Broncos Look Sharp on First Day at Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Western Michigan men's tennis team was sharp in its first day of competition at the Northwestern Wildcat Invite, with three Broncos advancing to the quarterfinals of their respective singles draws and all three doubles teams earning wins on Friday. The Broncos will return to action with one round each of doubles and singles on Saturday.

Three individual Broncos advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective singles draws, with Nadin Indre and Ross VanderPloeg advancing in the A Flight and Andrew Cahn moving on in the B Flight. VanderPloeg opened his weekend with a strong showing against Wisconsin's Alex Konstanov, defeating the Big Ten opponent 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round. Indre faced off against a more familiar opponent, defeating Toledo's Benjamin Brocker 6-1, 6-2, while Cahn downed Marquette's Gleb Sklyr 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.

Freshman Stephen Payne also competed on Friday as part of a modified round robin format, and he earned his first victory of the weekend against a Mid-American Conference opponent. Payne survived a tight first set with Toledo's Bryant Dudzik before taking over in the second set, winning the match 7-5, 6-0.

In addition to the success in singles play, all three Bronco doubles teams in competition earned a victory on Friday, advancing to the quarterfinals of their respective draws before falling in the semis. Two doubles pairings faced off against opponents from Toledo in the first round; VanderPloeg and Payne defeated Toledo's Brocker and Matt Wareti 8-3, and Indre and Cahn teamed to beat the Rockets' Garrett Cona and Grant Adams 8-5. Meanwhile, Jim Beckwith and Aaron Wong teamed up for a win over Big Ten foe, defeating Iowa's Joey White and Dominic Patrick 8-3.

Singles A Flight
Nadin Indre (WMU) def. Benjamin Brocker (UT) 6-1, 6-2
Vukasin Teofanovic (Marquette) def. Aaron Wong (WMU) 6-2, 6-1
Ross VanderPloeg (WMU) def. Alex Konstanov (Wisconsin) 6-4, 6-4

Singles B Flight
Andrew Cahn (WMU) def. Gleb Sklyr (Marquette) 6-4, 6-2

Singles - Modified Round Robin
Stephen Payne (WMU) def. Bryant Dudzik (UT) 7-5, 6-0

Doubles A Flight
VanderPloeg/Payne (WMU) def. Brocker/Wareti (UT) 8-3
Balaji/Zanotti (NU) def. VanderPloeg/Payne (WMU) 8-5
Wong/Beckwith (WMU) def. White/Patrick (Iowa) 8-3
Packowitz/Stark (Marquette) def. Wong/Beckwith (WMU) 9-7
Indre/Cahn (WMU) def. Adams/Cona (UT) 8-5
Parlic/Hoang (Arkansas) def. Cahn/Indre (WMU) 8-5