The Lawrence University men’s tennis team traveled to the Williams Center at UW-Whitewater last Saturday to compete against Carthage College and UW-Whitewater. The Vikings challenged the Carthage Redmen first, with Carthage sweeping the Vikings 0-9. After the first tough loss of the day, the Lawrence University men’s tennis team was shut out once again by the UW-Whitewater Warhawks 0-9.
Although the men’s tennis team suffered two substantial losses, the Vikings put up a fight against both of these very competitive Wisconsin schools. Senior captain Caleb Ray and sophomore Jason Dunn both had set points during the day, but they were not quite able to close the set.
Ray lost his first set against Carthage No. 2 singles player Daneric Hazelman 2-6. He came back in the second set 5-4, but unfortunately lost 7-6. Jason Dunn also lost his first set to Carthage number one singles player Jeff Lotz, coming back in the second set 5-2 but losing 7-5. Dunn also fought admirably against UW-Whitewater’s Andrew Bayliss, losing in the second set 7-6.
The Lawrence University men’s tennis team currently has a losing record of 3-9, but the future looks promising. So far, the Vikings have had an extremely difficult schedule, playing against large state schools like UW-Oshkosh, UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater.
Sophomore Jason Dunn has a positive outlook on the remainder of the season noting, “The team is a great group of guys. We work very hard and I only see improvement from here on out.” The Vikings have a great chance of doing well in the Midwest Conference. They are projected to finish in the top two in the northern division of the MWC and will hopefully make it to the Midwest Conference Championship Tournament in May.