ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Illinois College men's tennis team had three members travel to Washington University in St. Louis this weekend to take part in the ITA Central Regional. Seniors
Michael Connolly and
Miguel Vaca, along with freshman Jonah Wheeland, all matched up with some of the best NCAA Division III talent the Midwest has to offer.
Vaca and Wheeland each went into the Round of 128 in the singles draw. Vaca was given the taller order, facing No. 24 seed Jack Hibbard of Ohio Wesleyan University in the opening round. In a hard-fought match, Hibbard outlasted Vaca by a score of 6-4, 6-3. Vaca then went into the consolation draw of the tournament and split two sets with Carter Smiley of Hope College, 6-3, 4-6, before he won a 10-point tiebreaker to advance. His run ended there as he fell to Andrew Schiffman of Rose-Hulman, 6-4, 6-7, 0-1.
Like Vaca, Wheeland would end up facing an opponent from Hope. A 6-1, 6-3 loss to Mark Vanderstoep in the first round put Wheeland into the consolation. There he fell to Sebastian Culton of Fontbonne University, 7-6, 6-0.
Vaca and Connolly, the winningest doubles team in Illinois College history, also competed at the event. Their draw started with a tough 9-7 loss to Andre Adam and Joseph Conrad of Rose-Hulman. In the consolation bracket, they defeated Lance Maharry and Shawn Sabaricos of Elmhurst College, 8-4. That was as far as they went as personal circumstances led IC to withdraw from competing further in the tournament, missing out on a matchup with Henry Barrett and Henry Wessel of Kenyon College.
The Blueboys will return to the courts in early Spring. A full schedule for IC will be released soon.
