Men’s tennis opens CCIW play

April 12 2018
After a week break, the Thunder Men’s Tennis team returned to action on Friday, April 6 against Illinois Wesleyan University. Wheaton also had two more conference matchups: one against Millikin University on Saturday, April 7 and one against Elmhurst College on Wednesday, April 11.
Wheaton opened up conference play looking like true defending CCIW Champions. They swept doubles and singles play easily; their closest match was No. 1 doubles, which ended up being a 8-5 victory for the pair of sophomores Jeremiah Yi and Dane Paulsen. Senior Karl Wenzel and freshman Anderson Park won the No. 2 doubles match 8-1, and sophomore Andrew Bristol and junior Josh Cheng won the No. 3 doubles match 8-1 as well.
In singles play against IWU, Park won the No. 1 singles match 6-1, 6-2. Paulsen won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-1, and Yi handley beat his No. 3 opponent 6-0, 6-0. Cheng, Wenzel and freshman Andrew Winters each won their respective matches as well.
The following afternoon, Wheaton traveled to Millikin University to take on the Big Blue. Millikin had strong doubles pairs and bested Wheaton in No. 1 and 2 doubles. Cheng and Bristol were able to beat their No. 3 doubles opponent 8-1.
Park continued to play well as Wheaton’s No. 1 singles player and won his match against Millikin’s No. 1 singles player 6-1, 6-2. Paulsen won the No. 2 singles match 6-3, 6-0. In a very close match, Yi was able to come away with a victory in the No. 3 singles matchup in 5-7, 7-6 (10-8), 10-5 fashion. Cheng, Wenzel, and Winters won their No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 respective matches again.
Yesterday afternoon, Wheaton hosted Elmhurst College for their third CCIW matchup in a row. Similar to their victory over IWU, the Thunder swept doubles and singles play against the Bluejays. Elmhurst’s tennis team had five players on their team, so Wheaton won the No. 3 doubles match and No. 6 singles match by default.
According to Yi, matchups across the conference have all been relatively close, but Augustana College is looking like it’s going to be Wheaton’s toughest opponent.
The Wheaton Men’s Tennis team will host Concordia University (Wisc.) on Saturday, April 14 at 4 p.m.