By: Though Illinois College lost to Greenville, 8-1, a number of matches could have swung in either direction.
ELSAH, Ill. – The Illinois College men's tennis team were close in a number of matches but lost to Greenville College by a score of 8-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers, defending conference champions in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, improve to 3-1 while the Blueboys slide to 0-4.
Illinois College was on the precipice of getting off to a very good start, but the Panthers pulled out all three doubles matches. At No. 2 doubles,
Nazar Otunchiev and
Rolando Salazar lost, 8-6, and at No. 1 doubles,
Miguel Vaca and
Michael Connolly lost, 9-7.
Down 3-0, the Blueboys were in a tough spot and Greenville closed out the match easily by winning in straight sets over Otunchiev at No. 2, Salazar at No. 3,
T.J. Lawal at No. 5 and
Collin Walter at No. 6. Connolly took his singles match at No. 4 to a third-set tiebreaker, but fell by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 2-10. The lone point of the day came from Vaca at No. 1 singles as the sophomore remained undefeated early on in the year with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nate Wieland.
Illinois College will return to action on March 11 with a 12 p.m. match at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.
