The Butler men’s tennis team fell just shy of earning its second victory of the season this weekend.

On Friday, the Bulldogs traveled to Dayton, where they suffered a close 4-3 loss.

Dropping the doubles point proved to be crucial for the Bulldogs (1-13).

Butler players that came away victorious in the singles play were senior Zach Ervin and freshmen Tommy Marx and Billy Weldon.

The match came down to No. 1 singles play, where Butler freshman Austin Woldmoe fell short.

On Saturday, the team went to Bloomington to face the No. 29 Indiana Hoosiers (9-3).

The Bulldogs fell 7-0 in their sixth match against a ranked opponent this season.

Butler will begin conference play on March 24, taking on Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago the weekend after spring break.

The Butler men’s tennis team captured its elusive first victory of the spring season on Friday.

The Bulldogs (1-11) put an end to a 10-match losing streak with a 4-3 win over Bradley.

Butler defeated the Braves (5-8) at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to take the doubles point.

Photo by Marcy Thornsberry

Freshmen Billy Weldon and Austin Woldmoe got the ball rolling in doubles action for the Bulldogs by topping sophomores Ashton Kalhorn and Hamish Weerasinghe 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.

At No. 3 doubles, Butler freshmen Pulok Bhattacharya and Sam O’Neill walked away with an 8-3 win over junior Eric Nguyen and freshman Ahmed Albitar.

Singles victories from Woldmoe, Weldon and freshman Tommy Marx sealed the deal for the Bulldogs.

Woldmoe downed Bradley sophomore Gabriel Townes at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-2, while Marx topped junior Juan Diego Cuadrado 6-3, 6-4 in No. 2 singles action.

Weldon picked up a crucial win for the Bulldogs at No. 5 singles, defeating Weerasinghe 6-3, 0-6, 6-4.

The momentum from the win against Bradley could not propel Butler past No. 62 Drake the following day, though.

Butler will hit the road again this weekend to take on Dayton Friday and No. 26 Indiana Saturday.

The Butler men’s tennis team continued to struggle with a 5-2 loss at Eastern Kentucky last Saturday.

The Bulldogs (0-7) received one of their two victories from freshman Billy Weldon, who defeated senior Emilio Piriz 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.

“It is a definite confidence boost to get my second singles win of the year,” Weldon said. “I am just focused on contributing as much as I can to each match, so getting a win is always a positive.”

Freshman Sam O’Neill recorded Butler’s other win with a comeback performance at No. 6 singles.

After dropping the opening set 2-6 to sophomore Joao Maio, O’Neill took the second set 7-6 and won the tiebreaker 10-5.

“I was really happy with the way I finished the match,” O’Neill said. “I continued to play my patterns and hit my shots the way I had been in training, and when I got behind, I really increased my energy level to where it should have been from the start.”

Despite the pair of wins for the Bulldogs, Eastern Kentucky took the remainder of the singles matches and all three doubles matches.

“We have had a very tough schedule thus far, and I think that we just need to keep our intensity and work up for each match, and things will come together here soon,” Weldon said. “We are a young team and just have to keep fighting in every match we have.”

Butler will continue its season at Western Michigan at 3 p.m. Friday.

The Butler men’s tennis team continued its losing skid with a 7-0 home loss to No. 66 Harvard on Sunday.

“I just think we are playing a couple tough schools early this season,” freshman Ruben Geeraert said.

Freshman Austin Woldmoe had the team’s best singles showing against the Crimson (5-1), losing to senior Jonathan Pearlman 6-4, 6-3.

“Harvard is one of the best ranked teams to come here, so we were just trying to get experience with the new freshmen,” sophomore Brad DiCarlo said. “To improve we just need to work on our consistency, toughness and serves.”

The Bulldogs (0-5) also suffered two losses Saturday in West Lafayette, falling 7-0 to No. 67 Purdue (3-2) and 5-2 against Southern Illinois.

Photo courtesy of Butler Athletics

Against the Salukis (1-1), Butler received victories from freshman Pulok Bhattacharya at No. 5 singles (4-6, 6-4, 6-0) and freshman Sam O’Neill at No. 6 singles (6-1, 7-6 (7-5)).

The team will continue its season at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Despite a few individual victories, the Butler men’s tennis team fell to 0-3 on the season with losses to Northern Illinois and Wisconsin last weekend.

The Bulldogs dropped a 5-2 decision to the Huskies (2-0) Friday evening before making an overnight trip to Wisconsin.

“We’re not making excuses, but we should have came out with more intensity in warm ups and at the start of the match,” senior Zach Ervin said.

In the dual competition against the Badgers (3-0), freshman Billy Weldon recorded the only win of the day for Butler, defeating redshirt sophomore Alexander Teppert 6-3, 4-6, 10-5 in No. 6 singles.

“It was a big win for me,” Weldon said. “It was my first collegiate win, and it was against a good Big Ten player.”

In doubles action, the Bulldogs’ No. 2 and No. 3 duos fell in tiebreakers.

“We were a little disappointed that we didn’t make it closer, but we all battled hard all weekend,” Ervin said.

The Bulldogs will take on Southern Illinois and Purdue next weekend in West Lafayette.

It was a long Homecoming weekend for the Butler men’s tennis team, as the Bulldogs traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, to compete in the ITA Ohio River Valley Regionals.

Butler grabbed four victories in doubles play as well as a singles victory by freshman Tommy Marx.

Marx won 6-4, 7-5 in his first round matchup, but was knocked out of the tournament by Tennessee freshman Hunter Reese in the second round.

Senior Zach Ervin, freshman Austin Woldmoe and freshman Sam O’Neill also won a match apiece in the consolation bracket before falling to opponents from three different SEC schools in their second round draws.

In doubles action, two Butler duos collected two wins apiece.

Woldmoe and freshman Billy Weldon won two matches (9-7 and 8-2, respectively) before losing to Memphis sophomores David O’Hare and Joe Sallsbury 8-4.

The team of O’Neill and Ervin also had two match victories, but the duo was defeated 8-6 by Kentucky sophomores Maks Gold and Ryuji Hirooka.

Both Butler tennis squads are slated to hit the courts in an alumni match at Butler on Saturday, Oct. 29.

The Butler men’s tennis team gained more experience and picked up some victories at the Ball State Invitational last weekend.

Freshmen Sam O’Neill, Tommy Marx and Ruben Geeraert each earned two victories for the Bulldogs.

O’Neill had the strongest showing of the trio, winning the White Division consolation bracket.

After two byes, he met Duquesne freshman Mehdi Mekaoui and defeated him 6-4, 6-0.

The bracket’s final match featured O’Neill and Geeraert, who was victorious in matches against Duquesne junior Matt Smith (6-1, 6-1) and Northern Illinois freshman Bryant Wei (6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (6)).

After trading 6-2 wins in the first two sets, O’Neill topped Geeraert 1-0 (9) to capture his second victory of the event.

Marx picked up two wins in the Flight A consolation bracket before losing to Green Bay freshman Michael Tenzer 6-3, 6-2.

The Bulldogs will head to Louisville, Ky., for the Louisville Invitational Oct. 14-16.

The Butler men’s tennis team was never able to hit full stride last Thursday during its first-round matchup in the Horizon League Championship.

The No. 5-seed Bulldogs suffered a narrow 4-3 loss to No. 4-seed UIC in a match that saw senior Brandon Bayliss’ first conference singles loss of the season.

The Flames started red hot and swept doubles play to begin the match.

But the Bulldogs began to settle their postseason nerves, led by senior Chris Herron’s No. 2 singles victory over senior Luiz Gonzaga, 6-4, 6-0.

Junior Zach Ervin won the No. 3 singles match, 6-1, 6-1, and senior Lenz Theodor picked up the No. 5 singles victory, 7-5, 6-1, to tie the match at three.

In the end, the effort in singles play was not enough to make up for the poor doubles performance and the point lost at the beginning of the day.

The team was back on the courts the following day for the fifth-place consolation match. Butler faced No. 6 Youngstown State, who had lost to No. 3-seed and eventual champions Cleveland State the previous day.

Butler swept doubles play in convincing fashion to start the match. The Bulldogs won the No. 1 and No. 2 matches, making the third inconsequential.

Herron and senior David Dolins won the No. 1 match, 8-5. Bayliss and Theodor won the No. 2 match, 8-3.

Bayliss returned to his old form, picking up a win against junior Tariq Ismail, who had to withdraw from competition during the match.

Two other Butler seniors capped their collegiate careers with 2-0 records in the conference tournament—Herron won 6-2, 6-4, and Theodor won with similar ease, 6-2, 6-2.

Ervin also won in convincing fashion, winning the No. 3 singles match, 6-3, 6-1.

Throughout the season, Butler’s Achilles’ heel had been its inconsistent play during matches and its inability to stay healthy.

Ultimately, this caused their early departure from the conference tournament.

Despite a disappointing finish to the season, Bayliss ends his career as the 2011 Horizon League Player of the Year.

“It’s gratifying,” Bayliss said. “I wasn’t really recruited by any Division I schools except Butler so I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to compete at this level.”

Bayliss ended the season winning nine of his last 10 singles matches. He beat every conference opponent he faced during the regular season.

Looking ahead to next season, the team returns just three players from this year’s roster of nine—Ervin, junior Stephen McLoughlin and freshman Brad DiCarlo.

“They’ve been through a lot of adversity this year,” Bayliss said of the three who will be returning next season. “They’ll know how to lead the talented group of freshmen coming in. I’m excited to see what happens.”

The Butler men’s tennis team rounded out regular season conference play this weekend at home against Valparaiso and UIC.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs (6-15, 3-4 HL) swept the Crusaders (9-13, 0-7 HL) in doubles play en route to a 4-3 victory.

Seniors Brandon Bayliss and Lenz Theodor highlighted the Bulldogs’ dominance at doubles with an 8-0 win over their opponents.

This momentum carried over to singles play, as Butler would go on to grab straight-set victories in its first three matches.

At No. 1 singles, Bayliss defeated senior Jose Gaspar, 6-3, 6-3.

Senior Chris Herron and junior Zach Ervin both won their matches as well, winning by scores of 6-1, 6-4 and 6-1, 6-2, respectively.  From then on Butler struggled, losing in its final three matches.

Sunday’s match versus UIC was another chapter in Butler’s season of inconsistency.

The Flames (7-12, 4-3 HL) got off to a quick start, winning two of three doubles matches, and kept on rolling to win 6-1.

Bayliss got the lone victory in singles play for the Bulldogs, finishing the regular season with a perfect 7-0 against conference opponents.

“I commit to my game plan on a daily basis in practice,” Bayliss said.  “I figure out what I need to do and then I do my best to execute.”

Butler did not close out the regular season at full strength. Bayliss and Theodor sat out against IUPUI due to the regular season maximum match limit, leading to a 6-1 loss to the Jaguars (7-15) yesterday.

The Bulldogs were able to take one point in singles play thanks to Herron, who won at No. 1 singles, 6-1,  7-6.

Butler’s only other victory was at No. 2 doubles, but the Bulldogs were forced to forfeit the No. 3 doubles match.

With their split performance this weekend, the Bulldogs clinched the No. 5 seed in the Horizon League Championship tournament.

They will face off against UIC in the first round Thursday at North Central High School in Indianapolis.

“Everyone just needs to play with more confidence so we can start closing matches out,” Bayliss said. “It’ll be tough, but we can definitely do it.”