Butler Tennis Teams Advance To Championship Round

April 27, 2002

Indianapolis, Ind. - Both the Butler women's and men's tennis teams will compete for the Horizon League Tennis title tomorrow (Apr. 28) at North Central High School in Indianapolis. The women's tennis team, seeded second in the tournament, will take No. 1 UIC, the five-time defending champion of the league, while the top-seeded men's tennis team will go up against No. 2 UW-Green Bay. Both championship matches will begin at 10 a.m.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Butler women's tennis team will go head-to-head with the Flames for the league crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs earned another shot against the Flames following a pair of 4-0 shutouts over No. 3 Wright State in the semifinals and No. 7 in the first round. Top-seeded UIC reached the finals for the sixth consecutive season dating back to 1996, beating No. 4 Youngstown State, 4-0, in the semifinals and No. 8 UW-Milwaukee, 5-0 in the first round. The Flames defeated Butler 7-0 last week in regular-season action.

The Butler men's tennis, which won three consecutive league titles from 1998-2000, advanced to its seventh consecutive final with a 4-0 victory over No. 4 UIC. UW-Green Bay reached the championship match for the first time in its program's history following a 4-3 victory over No. 3 Wright State in the semifinals. The Bulldogs, who are led by Horizon League Coach of the Year Jason Susha and Horizon League Player of the Year Brandon Currie, won the meeting earlier this season against the Phoenix, 5-2.

Although weather forced the event to move from its original venue at North Central High School to three different sites (Butler University, Indianapolis Racquet Club and the Indianapolis Racquet Club East) in the middle of the first round, Sunday's championship and third-place matches are expected to go on as scheduled at North Central while start times have been pushed back to 10 a.m.

In addition to the change in venues, Saturday's rain also forced the cancellation of the consolation bracket, meaning teams that lost in the first round were eliminated from the tournament.