Carthage 5, Wheaton (Ill.) 1
Carthage 5, Augustana (Ill.) 4
Championship Web Site
The Carthage College men's tennis team (19-6, 4-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) won its ninth CCIW title and its eighth in row since 2004 on Saturday, May 7 with a 5-4 win over second-seeded Augustana College (Ill., 19-10, 3-2 CCIW) at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
The top-seeded Red Men advanced to the title match on Friday, May 6 with a 5-1 win over fourth-seeded Wheaton College (Ill., 8-11) in the semifinals. Augustana (Ill.) edged sixth-seeded Elmhurst College (10-11, 1-4), 5-4, in the other semifinal contest on Friday.
The championship got underway on Friday with fourth-seeded Wheaton College (Ill., 8-10, 2-3) edging fifth-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University (14-9, 2-3), 5-4, in first-round match, and sixth-seeded Elmhurst College (10-10, 1-4) nipping third-seeded North Central College (9-11, 3-2), also 5-4. North Central (Ill., 10-11) blanked Illinois and Wesleyan (14-10), 6-0, in the fifth-place match on Friday. Elmhurst (11-11) defeated Wheaton (Ill., 8-11), 6-3, in Saturday's third-place match.
In the title match, Carthage's
Jeff Lotz Jr. (So., Racine, Wis./Horlick, 24-4), ranked 17th in the April 14 Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Central Region rankings, defeated Augustana's Adam DeSimone at No. 1 singles,6-4, 6-4.
Daneric Hazelman (Jr., Lautoka, Fiji Islands, 25-5) defeated the Vikings' Kyle Doyle at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-2.
Matt Whiteside (Jr., Sacramento, Calif./Natomas Pacific Pathway Prep, 24-3) won over Nik Lehnert at No. 3 singles, 7-6(7-3), 6-1.
Alex McLean (Jr., Belleville, Ill./West, 7-9) defeated Andy Wall at No. 4 singles, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Nick Boomgarden (Jr., Fitchburg, Wis./Verona Area, 15-12) won over Jack Cullen at No. 5 singles, 6-7(3-7), 6-2, 6-1, but
Russell Mull (Jr., Lake Forest, Ill., 5-13) lost to Colin Arnold at No. 6 singles, Arnold winning, 6-2, 6-0.
Carthage lost all three doubles flights. The No. 1 doubles team of Lotz and Hazelman (23-6), ranked 14th in the region, lost to DeSimone and Wall, 8-5. The Red Men's No. 2 team of Whiteside and Boomgarden (21-7) fell to Doyle and Lehnert, 8-2, and the No. 3 tandem of Mull and
Brian Howes (So., Bartlett, Ill., 7-9) lost to Cullen and Arnold by an 8-4 margin.
