OSHKOSH, Wis. – The Illinois College men's tennis team started its road trip to Wisconsin off with two wins on Saturday, defeating Ripon College, 7-2, in the morning before finishing the day off with a clutch 5-4 win at Lawrence University in the afternoon. The two wins improve the Blueboys to 6-6 on the season and mark the first time in program history that they have started off Midwest Conference play at 3-0.
The morning started off with a solid victory over Ripon. The No. 1 doubles team of
Miguel Vaca and
Michael Connolly suffered a surprising 8-7(6) loss, but that point for the Red Hawks was offset by earlier victories from the No. 2 team of
Cameron Doerr and
Jonah Wheeland (8-1) and a hard-fought win at No. 3 by
Jacob McQueen and
Connor McAndrew (8-7(2)).
Moving into singles, the Blueboys made quick work of Ripon, winning the first four matches in straight sets, allowing the Nos. 5 and 6 matches to be played as eight-game tiebreakers. Vaca won IC its third point of the match with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Drew Jorgensen at No. 1 singles. Next to finish was Doerr with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Marcus Austin at No. 4. Needing one more point to clinch,
Jonah Wheeland finished off a 6-2, 6-0 win over Preston Wurtz at No. 2.
Following Illinois College's fifth point, Connolly added a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles over Adrian Granados. McAndrew tacked on a win at No. 6 over Daniel Garcia, 8-6.
Moving onto the Lawrence match in the afternoon, Illinois College took a 2-1 lead in doubles following wins at Nos. 1 and 2. Vaca and Connolly held on for an 8-6 triumph in the No. 1 match, while Doerr and Wheeland had an easier time of it with an 8-4 win at No. 2.
Things would get dramatic later in the day. Vaca started singles with a routine 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 over Connor Maloney to give Illinois College a 3-1 advantage. Lawrence would claim the next three matches however, winning at Nos. 2, 3 and 6 to take a 4-3 lead. With the outcome down to the results of the Nos. 4 and 5 matches, McQueen knotted it at 4-4 after a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Matt Chan. That left Doerr against Evan Oriel at No. 4. After falling in the first set, 2-6, Doerr kept the match alive by gutting out a 6-4 win in the second. With the match knotted at a set apiece, Doerr blew it open in the third set, sweeping past Oriel for a 6-0 win and giving the Blueboys the victory.
Currently atop the MWC standings at 3-0, Illinois College will look to solidify its claim to the top spot tomorrow when the Blueboys meet St. Norbert College at 9:30 a.m. in De Pere, Wis. to close out the weekend.
