The Lawrence University men’s tennis team played two conference matches last weekend against Carroll University and St. Norbert College. The Vikings came up short against Carroll on Friday, April 20 and were defeated 2-7 on the Lawrence courts. The men pulled themselves together and took a victory over St. Norbert (5-4) on Sunday afternoon.
The match against Carroll on Friday afternoon had a rough start, as the Vikings went 1-2 in the doubles competition. Craig Sherwood and Jeremy Andereck played an incredibly close match, but lost 7-9 at No. 3 doubles. Caleb Ray and Cooper Smith were able to pull out a very close 8-6 win at No. 2 doubles. The performances in the doubles competition put a lot of pressure on the singles competition to win at least four of the six singles matches. Smith had a successful day, being the only player to win both of his matches. Smith also had the only win for Vikings during the singles competition, as he defeated Carroll University’s Ryne Fertitta 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
The battle against St. Norbert College was an exciting experience for all spectators. Most of the matches were incredibly close. The day started off with one win and two losses during the doubles competition. Jason Dunn and Max Zlevor played a tight match at No. 1 doubles, defeating St. Norbert’s Derek Harrington and Nick Acosta 8-6. The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles competitions were also incredibly close, but Lawrence came up just short with two 7-9 losses. The singles competition was excruciatingly close. Ray, Smith and Sherwood took victories for the Vikings during the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles competitions, respectively. At this point, Lawrence only needed one more win to seal their victory, so there was an immense amount of pressure falling on the outcomes of the No. 1 and No. 2 singles competitions. Max Zlevor battled his opponent, taking his matches to three sets but fell just short of a victory at No. 2 singles (3-6, 6-0, 3-6). Jason Dunn lost his first set 4-6, but rallied to take the next two sets (6-3, 6-4) and seal a Lawrence victory.
The Vikings now have a season record of 5-12 and a record of 2-1 in the Midwest Conference. They will travel to Madison next weekend (April 27-29) to compete in the Midwest Conference Championships at the Nielsen Tennis Center.