Men's Tennis Set to Play Three Matches this Week

Wednesday, April 7

Terre Haute, Ind.

12 PM

Xavier University

Saint Louis

Men's Tennis Set to Play Three Matches this Week

04.06.21 | Men's Tennis

Musketeers take on Saint Louis on Wednesday, open BIG EAST play at Butler on Saturday and host DePaul on Sunday

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier men's tennis will play a trio of matches this week, starting with a match against Saint Louis in Terre Haute at noon. The Musketeers travel to Indianapolis on Saturday to open up BIG EAST play, facing the Butler Bulldogs at 10:00 a.m. then return to Cincinnati to host DePaul on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

SAINT LOUIS

Saint Louis is 6-5 on the season, winning six straight before falling in the last two matches, against Dayton and Butler. The Bilikens have two wins over Quincy, plus wins over Austin Peay, Bellarmine, Oral Roberts and Duquesne.
SLU was 5-8 when the 2020 season ended.
Xavier is 13-4 in matches on record against Saint Louis, winning the last seven matches. The last time they matched up was the 2012-13 season, a 6-1 win for Xavier.

BUTLER

Butler is 5-7 on the season after winning two of their last four outings, against Saint Louis and Marian. They also have wins against IUPUI, Chicago State and DePauw for the season.
Butler was 11-8 last season when the remainder of the season was canceled, starting out the dual season with a 11-4 record.
Butler fell to Marquette in the semi-final round of the 2019 BIG EAST Championships, 4-3.
The last time the Musketeers faced Butler was during the 2019 season, Xavier fell to the Bulldogs, 5-2

DEPAUL

DePaul is 9-6 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST play with wins over Butler and Creighton. The Blue Demons will play University of Chicago on Friday as well.
The Blue Demons were 8-9 when the 2020 season was canceled.
The last time the Musketeers faced DePaul was during the 2019 season, when the Blue Demons defeated the Musketeers, 5-2.
DePaul lost in the second round of the 2019 BIG EAST Championships.

LAST TIME OUT

Xavier went 0-2 against Cleveland State the weekend of March 20-21 to move to 2-7 on the season.
In Friday's match at CSU, the Musketeers fell 5-2.
CSU took the doubles point with wins in the No. 1 spot, 6-1, over Brett Winters and Cambell Nakayama, and No. 2 spot, 6-3, over Caden Kammerer and Srdan Pejic. Matthew Graft and Aaron Thompson trailed 4-3 in the No. 3 spot when the point was decided.
The Vikings made it 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win in the No. 3 spot over Matthew Graft. The Musketeers responded with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win in the No. 5 spot for Caden Kammerer, his first singles win as a Musketeer, to make it 2-1.
Xavier tied it up 2-2 with a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (12-10) win in the No. 6 spot for Aaron Thompson, his third singles win of the season, but CSU responded by taking the No. 2 spot over Srdan Pejic, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3) to make it 3-2 in favor of the Vikings.
Cleveland State secured the match in the No. 1 spot with a 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-3 win over Brett Winters and picked up the final point, a 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win over Cambell Nakayama in the No. 4 spot.
In Saturday's match, Xavier fell 6-1.
CSU took the doubles point with wins in the No. 1 spot, 6-2, over Srdan Pejic and Cambell Nakayama, and No. 2 spot, 6-3, over Brett Winters and Shashank Reddy. Matthew Graft and Aaron Thompson trailed 4-3 in the No. 3 spot when the point was decided.
The Vikings made it 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 win in the No. 3 spot over Matthew Graft, and pushed the lead to 3-0 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Brett Winters in the No. 1 spot.
CSU sealed the win with a 7-5, 6-0 win in the No. 6 spot over Aaron Thompson, moving ahead 4-0.
Srdan Pejic picked up the point for the Musketeers in the No. 2 spot, winning 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to make it 4-1.
Cleveland State picked up a fifth point in the No. 5 spot with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) win over Shashank Reddy and then set the final score at 6-1 with a 6-4, 6-3 over Cambell Nakayama.

THE TEAM: RETURNERS

Xavier returns eight from the 2020 season, with all getting action in dual play.
Brett Winters collected a team-leading 11 singles wins as well as eight doubles wins overall before the season was canceled in mid-March due to COVID-19. He had a 7-8 record in dual play, playing in the No. 1 spot. Winters went 5-8 in doubles play during the dual season, playing in the No. 1 spot...Partnered with Srdan Pejic, had a record of 3-6 and had a record of 2-2 with Matthew Graft.
Srdan Pejic had a team-leading 11 singles and 11 doubles wins overall before dual season was canceled in mid March due to COVID-19. Pejic went 6-8 in doubles during duals, primarily playing in the No. 1 spot with Brett Winters, where the pair went 3-6.
Matthew Graft collected six singles wins and seven doubles wins overall in 2020. He went 3-6 in singles during tournament play in the fall and picked up three singles wins in dual action, all in the No. 3 spot. Graft was 6-6 in doubles action in duals, going 4-4 playing No. 2 and No. 3 with Shashank Reddy and 2-2 in the No. 1 spot with Brett Winters.
Shashank Reddy collected six singles wins and nine doubles wins overall in 2020. He had a 4-8 record in singles during duals, playing primarily in the No. 4 spot where he had a 3-5 record. Reddy went 9-9 overall in doubles, including a 7-6 mark in dual play. He went 4-4 partnered with Matthew Graft, playing the No. 2 spot (1-2) and No. 3 spot (3-2) and also partnered with Srdan Pejic to go 3-2, playing No. 2s (0-2) and No. 3s (3-0).
Jan Vrba collected seven singles wins and six doubles wins in 2020. He had a 7-7 overall record in singles, including a 6-3 mark in tournament play in the fall. He went 1-4 in singles during dual play, playing primarily in the No. 4 spot (0-3) but also in the No. 3 spot (1-0) and the No. 5 spot (0-1). Vrba went 6-11 in doubles play, with a 2-8 record in dual matches. Partnered with Michael Lee, the pair went 1-7 in the No. 2 spot and 1-1 in the No. 3 spot.
Aaron Thompson collected eight singles wins and two doubles wins overall in 2020. He went 5-8 in singles during dual action, playing primarily in the No. 5 spot (2-7) but also playing No. 4 (2-1) and No. 6 (1-0). Thompson went 2-4 overall in doubles, with a 2-3 mark in the fall.
Dominic Macaluso picked up six singles wins and two doubles wins overall in 2020. He had a 4-2 record in singles play during the fall tournament season and went 2-2 in the No. 6 singles spot during duals. Macaluso went 1-0 in doubles during the spring, playing in the No. 3 spot with Jake Zipoli.
Jake Zipoli collected six singles wins and three doubles wins overall in 2020. He had a 4-2 singles record in tournament play during Fall 2019 and went 2-0 in dual singles. Zipoli also finished 3-3 overall record in doubles, going 2-3 in tournament play, partnered with Macaluso as well as Shashank Reddy.

THE TEAM: NEWCOMERS

Xavier added a pair of freshmen to the roster, Caden Kammerer and Pascal Mosberger.
Kammerer, from Longmont, Colorado, was a four-star recruit, as rated by TennisRecruiting.net, and was ranked as high as 111 in the site's rankings. During his prep career, Kammerer earned a Universal Tennis Rating of 11.6.
Mosberger, from Zurich, Switzerland, ranked as high as 105 in the Swiss Men's National Rankings and 2,256 in the ITF Men's World Rankings with a highest Universal Tennis Rating of 11.95 so far in his career.
Xavier also added two transfers, Arnaud Restifo and Cambell Nakayama.
Restifo joined Xavier as a grad transfer after spending three seasons at San Diego State, collecting 34 singles wins during his time there. He started his Aztec career with an All-Mountain West Conference Singles season, going 14-23 overall. As a junior he posted a in 14-16 mark in singles and an 11-9 mark in doubles play. He finished last season's abbreviated season at 6-6 in singles play.
Nakayama transferred from Cal Poly, where he spent two seasons. He finished the shortened dual season at 3-2 in singles, playing primarily in the No. 5 and 6 spots in 2020. In 2019, he finished the spring season with a 1-4 record in singles dual matches all from the No. 6 position.