MADISON, Wis. – The Illinois College men's tennis team wrapped up the 2019 season on Sunday with the doubles portion of the Midwest Conference Championships. Though not as successful a day as Saturday, the Blueboys still managed to win at least one match in each of the three doubles draws and took home one consolation title.
Miguel Vaca and
Michael Connolly, the most successful doubles pairing in Illinois College history, won their opening match of the day in the No. 1 draw, taking down Monmouth College's Joseph Shie and Zach Harris by a score of 8-6. In the semifinals, IC fell to Cornell College's Hayden Dzurisin and Shoma Kishimoto, 8-1.
In the No. 2 bracket,
Jonah Wheeland and
Cameron Doerr lost in a quarterfinal to Tom Greene and Drew Arnold of Cornell, 8-5. The pair rallied back in the consolation semifinals to defeat Knox College's Brad Newland and Dobbin Pine, 8-5. Though they advanced to the consolation final, Wheeland and Doerr defaulted the match to the team from St. Norbert College.
In the No. 3 bracket,
Jacob McQueen and
Connor McAndrew lost a quarterfinal to St. Norbert's Matt La Violette and Jordan Crump, 8-2. The Blueboy duo came back to defeat Alex Martin and Nicholas Robertson of Monmouth College, 8-3 in the consolation semifinals. In a tight battle for the consolation final, McQueen and McAndrew outlasted Lake Forest College's Mawande Mayiga and Carson Chen by a score of 8-7 (7-5) to claim the consolation championship.
Illinois College men's tennis turned in the most successful season in school history in 2019, winning nine regular-season matches. In addition to ending as the all-time leader in doubles victories with Connolly, Vaca also will go down as the winningest singles player at Illinois College, having recorded 58 victories at No. 1.
