It was quite the busy weekend for the men’s tennis team as they traveled to Illinois to take on Knox College and Monmouth College in Midwest Conference play. Their competition began on Saturday, March 1 at 9 a.m. in Galesburg, Ill., as they took on the Knox Prairie Fire.
Leading the way for the Vikings was sophomore Ethan Perushek. He had a rough first match, losing to Dustin Loch of Knox 7-6 after a tiebreaker, but quickly came back to win the second set 7-6 after another tiebreaker. Neck-and-neck with his opponent, Perushek and Loch were again tied 4-4 in the third set. Perushek was able to pull ahead and win the final two games for the Vikings.
Freshmen David Jumes and Sam Weiner also picked up singles victories for Lawrence in match No. 2 and No. 5, respectively. Jumes and Weiner later paired up for doubles competition along with Perushek and sophomore Adam Busch. These pairings won doubles matches No. 2 and No. 3 for the Vikings, giving Lawrence a 2-1 lead in the match after doubles play was completed. The day ended with the Vikings narrowly defeating the Prairie Fire, 5-4.
Competition resumed later in the day with the Vikings taking on the Monmouth College Fighting Scots. Proving to be very tough competition, the Scots were unstoppable in both doubles and singles play. Jumes played in the second match against the Scots’ David Stewart. Able to pick up two wins out of 12, Jumes exhibited a great effort against his tough competitor, winning by the final scores of 6-0, 6-2. Additionally, senior Jeremy Andereck notched three victories out of 12 matches.
Doubles was equally hard for the Vikings, who were only able to win three out of the 24 games played. Andereck and sophomore Brian DeCorte picked up one of those wins in match No. 1, while Jumes and Weiner picked up the other two in the next match. The Scots shut out the Vikings by a final score of 9-0 in doubles competition. The Vikings drove home with one win and one loss, bringing their overall record to 2-4. Lawrence will travel to Grinnell on Saturday, March 8, where they will face Grinnell College and Hastings College.