Jan. 9, 2003

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Senior men's tennis player Ben Stapp has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Milwaukee Tennis Classic with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Louisville's Harry Walsh, Wednesday. Stapp will face No. 1 seed Vincent Ng from Ohio State at 10:30, Thursday.

Stapp's doubles teammate, Lee Walker, did not get to finish his Round of 16 match to see if he would also advance to the quarters. But teammates Alex Bucewicz and freshman Alex Jago each advanced to the consolation quarterfinal round on Wednesday as well. Jago received an injury default to make his first appearance in the quarterfinals in his young Tiger career, while Bucewicz downed Jose Orozco from Western Michigan, 6-0, 6-2. Bucewicz will face Michigan's Vinny Gossain in the second quarterfinal. Gossain defeated Memphis' Brendan Malarkey, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round to earn a quarterfinal berth.

Two Tiger doubles teams dropped their matches in the Round of 32, Wednesday. Ian Bliss and Jr Randall from West Virginia edged the Memphis duo of Malarkey and Andrew Olswing, 9-8, while No. 6 seeded Conor Casey and Brenton Contini from Ohio State downed Tigers Bucewicz and Jago, 8-4. Stapp and Walker, the top seeded doubles team at the tournament, will face Scott Green and Ross Wilson in their first doubles action of the tournament.