Men's Tennis opened their season on Saturday with a pair of dominant wins over familiar opponents. The 2019 squad is one of the strongest and deepest in recent memory, eager to make noise around the central region this year. Facing a squad of only five players in the first match against St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Coach
Rusty Jones sent out a new lineup to rest top players for later competition.
Wyatt Dale and
Greg Sovie knocked the rust off with a comfortable win at 1
st doubles, though the most exciting match of the day came on court two. Elliott Mathieson and
Esteban Rojas Acuna came to play at the net and battled the entire way in their first official doubles match. After coming back to tie the match at seven games apiece they fell short in the tiebreak, 10-7.
Dan Wagstaff was first off the court after only dropping one game at 3
rd singles.
Brody Swan's month-long middle-eastern diet of chicken and rice paid off, as he raced to a 6-2, 6-1 win at the two spot. On court four
Peter Griswold started slow, falling down 3-1 before reeling off 11 straight games. Rojas Acuna finished off a solid 6-4, 6-3 win at 5
th singles.
Illinois College presented a tougher test in the later match, though the Panthers' full-strength lineup was more than ready. Both second and third doubles burned through Illinois College 8-0, and the familiar Sovie/Dale combo at first doubles rode an early break to a satisfying 8-5 victory.
Daniel Gomez slowly found his game to close out a first set win on court one, after which his opponent retired. Wagstaff finished off another dominant win at the six spot without dropping a game, along with the rest of the bottom half of the lineup.
Jules Kitchingman smacked his forehand around at fourth singles, and
Nat Kenworthy was overwhelming at five. Sovie ground his man into the court on court three, and Dale completed a 9-0 team win with a victory at two singles.
Box Score vs STLCP (winners in bold):
1
st doubles:
Wyatt Dale/Greg Sovie vs Clark Perry/George Win 8-1
2
nd doubles: Elliott Mathieson/
Esteban Rojas Acuna vs
James Bamberger/Naphtali Eke 8-7 (10-7)
3
rd doubles: default
1
st singles:
Nat Kenworthy vs Sheldon Kolawole 6-2, 6-3
2
nd singles:
Brody Swan vs George Win 6-2, 6-1
3
rd singles:
Dan Wagstaff vs Clark Berry 6-1, 6-0
4
th singles:
Peter Griswold vs James Bamberger 6-3, 6-0
5
th singles:
Esteban Rojas Acuna vs Naphtali Eke 6-4, 6-3
6
th singles: default
vs Illinois College:
1
st doubles:
Sovie/Dale vs Miguel Vaca/Jonah Wheeland 8-5
2
nd doubles:
Daniel Gomez/Brody Swan vs Michael Connolly/Jacob McQueen 8-0
3
rd doubles:
Jules Kitchingman/Nat Kenworthy vs Cameron Doerr/Connor McAndrew 8-0
1
st singles:
Daniel Gomez vs Miguel Vaca 6-3, ret.
2
nd singles:
Wyatt Dale vs Jonah Wheeland 6-2, 6-1
3
rd singles:
Greg Sovie vs Michael Connolly 6-0, 6-1
4
th singles:
Jules Kitchingman vs Cameron Doerr 6-0, 6-0
5
th singles:
Nat Kenworthy vs Jacob McQueen 6-0, 6-0
6
th singles:
Dan Wagstaff vs Connor McAndrew 6-0, 6-0
