April 20, 2005

St. Louis, Mo. - Saint Louis University men's tennis (4-14, 0-3 Conference USA) is the 12th seed and is set to face fifth-seeded UAB (14-5) at the C-USA Championship in Louisville, Ky., on Thu., Apr. 21, at 11 a.m. Coming off three titles in the last four seasons, including back-to-back championships in 2003 and 2004, the Tulane Green Wave is the league's top-ranked team and are currently 18-5 on the season. The tournament gets underway on Thursday with four first round matches beginning at 8 a.m. The quarterfinals are Fri., Apr. 22 beginning at 8 a.m., while the semifinals take place Sat., Apr. 23 beginning at 9 a.m. A ninth-place consolation round also will also be played Friday and Saturday. The championship match is slated for Sun., Apr. 24 at 11 a.m. All main draw matches will take place at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

RECAP: The Billikens fell 6-1 to Oral Roberts and 5-2 against league foe DePaul last weekend at home to conclude their regular-season matches.

ABOUT UAB: Head coach Derek Tarr is in his fifteenth season leading the Blazers. Junior Sebastian Falk leads UAB into the tournament.

THE BILLIKEN COACHING STAFF: Along side fourth-year head coach Jonathan Zych (36-56) are assistant coaches Shervin Saedinia and Chad Andrews. Prior to her 2003 Billiken coaching appointment, Saedinia played tennis at Syracuse University where she was a four-time MVP. Andrews joined the staff in August 2004 after completing his tennis career as a Billiken.

SINGLE-SIDED:

Tom de Larzac (Torun, Ontario / Northview Heights) is 5-11 at No. 1 singles after defeating Mark Henderson (DePaul) 4-6, 6-4 (10-6) ... lost to Wessel Kemp (Oral Roberts) 6-3, 6-7 (11-9) ... lost to Goran Vujaklija (Wichita State) 6-3, 6-3 ... lost to Sandy Farquharson (UT-Arlington) 6-4, 6-2 ... lost to Djordje Uskokovic (Illinois State) 6-2, 6-3 ... defeated Juan Mas (IUPUI) 6-4, 6-0 ... defeated Francis Lam (UMSL) 6-3, 6-4 ... lost his match against Jeremy Salvo (Texas Pan-American) 7-6, 6-3 ... lost to Brett McKeon (Cornell) 6-2, 6-3 ... his match with Eduardo Autran (UALR) did not finish as the Trojans claimed a 4-0 victory ahead of completion ... lost to Paulo Baumer (East Carolina) 6-1, 6-4 ... defeated Sean Moran (Western Illinois) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 ... lost to Anton Tsymbalov (Indiana State) 6-3, 6-1 ... lost to Jiri Spousta (SMS) 6-4, 6-3 ... lost to James Low (Butler) 6-4, 6-3 ... defeated Matthew Warner (SIU-Edwardsville) 6-4, 6-3.

James Wilson (San Antonio, Texas / St. Stephen's) is 2-5 at No. 2 singles, 3-6 at No. 3 singles, 5-11 overall after defeating Will Wang (DePaul) 6-2, 6-3 ... defeated Clemons Geercken(Oral Roberts) 6-2, 7-5 ... lost to Gabriel Loredo (Wichita State) 6-0, 7-6 (3) ... did not finish his match with Alberto Agis (UT-Arlington) ... lost to Guillermo Gomez (Illinois State) 6-2, 6-2 ... defeated Ross Gehlhausen (IUPUI) 6-0, 6-3 ... defeated Stephen Pobst (UMSL) 6-4, 6-2 ... lost to Oliver Steil (Texas Pan-American) 6-1, 6-3 ... lost to Edson Abrao (UALR) 6-2, 6-1 ... lost to Robert Kotroczo (DePaul) 6-2, 6-2 ... lost to Felipe Fonseca (East Carolina) 6-2, 6-1 ... lost to Justin Junck (Western Illinois) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 ... lost at No. 2 singles to Simon Thornewell (Indiana State) 6-1, 6-4 ... lost at No. 3 singles to Nenad Curcic (SMS) 6-4, 6-2 ... lost to Parker Ross (Butler) 6-4, 6-1 ... defeated Justin Free (SIU-Edwardsville) at No. 2 singles 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Matt Rineberg (Pekin, Ill. / Illinois Wesleyan) is 1-0 at No. 3 singles, 2-1 at No. 4 singles, 1-8 at No. 5 singles, 4-9 overall after losing to Jack Komar (DePaul) 6-3, 7-5 ... lost to Craig Dunne (Oral Roberts) 6-2, 7-5 ... lost to Thiago Dos Santos (Wichita State) 6-1, 6-2 ... lost to Felipe Acosta (UT-Arlington) 6-2, 6-1 ... lost to Alfredo Lagarda (Illinois State) 6-3, 6-2 ... defeated Greg Fallowfield (IUPUI) 6-0, 6-2 ... defeated Max Bugner (UMSL) 6-1, 6-1 ... lost to Pierre Canti (Texas Pan-American) 6-3, 6-4 ... his match against Juan Carlos Nunez (UALR) did not finish as the Trojans claimed a 4-0 victory ahead of completion ... lost to Jack Komar (DePaul) 6-4, 6-3 ... defeated Mike Tiu (Western Illinois) 7-6, 6-4 at No. 4 singles ... lost to Aaron Phillips (Indiana State) 6-2, 6-4 ... lost to Marcos Queiroz (SMS) 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5 singles ... lost to Mike Weaver (Butler) 6-4, 7-5 ... defeated Matt Kuban (SIU-Edwardsville) 6-4, 7-5.

Paul Feder (Belleville, Ill. /Belleville East) is 2-8 at No. 4 singles, 2-2 at No. 3 singles, 4-10 overall after losing to Sam Davidson (DePaul) 6-3, 6-3 ... lost to Guan Farquharson (Oral Roberts) 6-4, 6-1 ... lost to Boris Gubic (Wichita State) 6-3, 6-4 ... lost to Ian Vazquez-Rowe (UT-Arlington) 6-3, 6-3 ... lost to Luka Marckovic (Illinois State) 6-0, 6-3 ... defeated Ronnie Pedro (IUPUI) 6-3, 7-5 ... defeated Rajan Saini (UMSL) 6-3, 5-7 (10-8) at No. 4 singles ... lost at No. 4 singles to Rehman Esmail (Texas Pan-American) 6-4, 6-2 ... his match against Rain Roigas (UALR) did not finish as the Trojans claimed a 4-0 victory ahead of completion ... lost to Will Wang (DePaul) 6-2, 6-1 ... defeated Robert Coventry (Western Illinois) 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 ... lost at No. 3 singles to Christopher Eldon (Indiana State) 6-1, 6-4 ... lost at No. 4 singles to John Kellert (SMS) 6-2, 6-2 ... lost to Evan West (Butler) 6-4, 7-5 ... defeated Dan Glon (SIU-Edwardsville) 6-3, 6-4.

Kyle Shoff (Metamora, Ill. / Metamora Township) is 1-2 at No. 5 singles, 1-1 at No. 6 singles (2-3 overall) after losing to Oscar Beich (Illinois State) 6-3, 6-1 ... defeated Joe Harvath (IUPUI) 6-2, 6-4 ... Sisay Selassie (Western Illinois) 6-1, 6-3 ... lost to Kevin Doh (Indiana State) 6-0, 6-0 ... defeated Andrew Reznack (SIU-Edwardsville) 6-0, 6-1.

Andrew Balcer (Granite City, Ill. / Granite City) is 2-9 at No. 6 singles, 1-1 at No. 5 singles, 3-10 overall after losing to Eric Huffman (DePaul) 6-0, 7-5 ... lost to Adam Ehrlich (Oral Roberts) 6-1, 6-2 ... claimed a default injury win over Moti Eisikovits (Wichita State) ... lost to Josey Trimmier (UT-Arlington) ... lost to Alban Renard (Illinois State) 6-1, 6-2 ... defeated Nick Tarvin (IUPUI) 7-5, 6-2 ... defeated Ryan Burgdorfer (UMSL) 6-3, 3-6 (11-9) ... lost to Alex Paceho (Texas Pan-American) 6-3, 3-6 (10-5) ... lost to Charn Bak (Cornell) 6-3, 6-0 ... lost to Tim Walter (UALR) 6-2, 6-2 ... returned against East Carolina after being sidelined with an ankle injury ... lost to Robert Stasch (East Carolina) 6-1, 6-2 ... lost to Jeff Stone (SMS) 6-1, 6-0 ... lost to Tony Aker (Butler) 6-0, 6-0 ... lost to Andy Renner (SIU-Edwardsville) 5-7, 6-2 ().

Chris Welnetz (Laredo. Texas / United) is 1-8 at No. 2 singles after losing to Robet Kotroczo (DePaul) 6-4, 6-1 ... lost to Tyrone Hill (Oral Roberts) 6-3, 6-2 ... lost to Carlo Contente (Wichita State) 5-7, 7-5 (10-7) ... did not finish his match with Diego Mattan (UT-Arlington) ... lost to Mike Schaaf (UMSL) 4-6 (7-6), 6-0 ... lost to Nik Porter (Texas Pan-American) 6-0, 6-3 ... lost to Nic Brunner (Cornell) 6-0, 6-0 ... lost to Nihal Advani (UALR) 6-2, 6-2 ... returned to the lineup against East Carolina but his match did not finish as ECU claimed a 4-0 victory ahead of completion ... did not play against Western Illinois or Indiana State due to an injury ... lost to Pavel Hanek (SMS) 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles ... defeated Andy Bartish (Butler) 2-6, 7-6 (10-8) at No. 2 singles ... sat out the SIU-Edwardsville match.

DOUBLE TAKE:

de Larzac/Wilson are 1-2 at No. 1 doubles but their match against Abrao/Autran (UALR) did not finish as the Trojans claimed a 4-0 victory ahead of completion ... lost to Moran/Junck (Western Illinois) 8-4 ... lost to Phillips/Thornewell (Indiana State) 8-3 ... defeated Warner/Free (SIU-Edwardsville) 9-8.

de Larzac/Welnetz are 1-3 at No. 1 doubles after defeating Schaaf/Pobst (UMSL) 8-5 ... lost to Salvo/Esmail (Texas Pan-American) 8-6 ... lost to Spousta/Hanek (SMS) 8-5 ... lost to Bartish/Breitenbach (Butler) 8-5.

de Larzac/Feder are 2-3 at No. 1 doubles after losing to Davidson/Henderson (DePaul) 8-5 ... defeated Ehrlich/Kemp (Oral Roberts) 9-8 ... lost to Vujaklija/Gubic (Wichita State) 8-4 ... lost to Pettinari/Uskokovic (Illinois State) 8-2 ... defeated Mas/Gehlhausen (IUPUI) 8-2.

Feder/Rineberg are 2-1 at No. 2 doubles after defeating Selassie/Tiu (Western Illinois) 8-4 ... lost to Tsymbalov/Eldon (Indiana State) 8-4 ... defeated Glon/Kuban (SIU-Edwardsville) 8-4.

Feder/Wilson are 2-5 at No. 2 doubles after defeating Lam/Saini (UMSL) 8-4 ... defeated Poter/Canti (Texas Pan-American) 9-7 ... lost to Advani/Halachev (UALR) 8-6 ... lost to Komar/Wang (DePaul) 8-4 ... lost to Mansell/Viana (East Carolina) 8-5 ... Curcic/Stone (SMS) 8-6 ... lost to Low/Ross (Butler) 8-4.

Wilson/Rineberg are 2-3 at No. 2 doubles after losing to Huffman/Kotroczo (DePaul) 8-5 ... lost to Hill/Farquharson (Oral Roberts) 8-2 ... defeated Contente/Eisikovits (Wichita State) 7-2, retired ... lost to Gomez/Renard (Illinois State) 8-0 ... defeated Pedro/Fallowfield (IUPUI) 8-1.

Balcer/Shoff are 1-2 at No. 3 doubles after losing to Marckovic/Lagarda (Illinois State) 8-3 ... defeated Tarvin/Fouad (IUPUI) 9-7 ... lost to Renner/Reznack (SIU-Edwardsville) 8-5.

Rineberg/Shoff are 1-5 at No. 3 doubles after defeating Bugner/Burgdorfer (UMSL) 8-4 ... lost to Rain Roigas/Walter (UALR) 8-3 ... lost to Davidson/Kotroczo (DePaul) 8-2 ... lost to Fonseca/Stasch (East Carolina) 8-1 ... lost to Kellert/Queiroz (SMS) 8-2 ... lost to Aker/West (Butler) 8-4.

Rineberg/Balcer are 0-1 at No. 3 doubles after losing to Paceho/Steil (Texas Pan-American) 8-3.

Shoff/Welnetz are 0-3 at No. 3 doubles after losing to Inchauste/Wang (DePaul) 8-2 ... lost to Dunne/Geercken (Oral Roberts) 8-5 ... lost to Loredo/Dos Santos (Wichita State) 8-2.