KENOSHA, Wis. - The Carthage Firebirds men's tennis team epitomized what it means to be a team and what it means to be Firebirds. The team - one through 13 - scrapped, clawed, and fought its way to College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) mountaintop - piecing together one of the greatest seasons in program history. The euphoric high of a come-from-behind victory in the conference championship match over its rival - and the number one seed - North Central College, provided a storybook moment for the Firebirds - one that will be discussed for years to come within the white lines of Smeds Tennis Center. The mere victory over North Central isn't what made the 2022-2023 campaign so special - it was the path to that pinnacle and the underlying context surrounding it all. 

The Firebirds opened their historic 2022-2023 season with the CCIW Individual Tournament in early September. Though September rain cut the event short after just one day, Carthage walked away with a good idea as to how strong its depth might be. Combined between singles and doubles - and without Yanozie Amadike and others on hand - the Firebirds won 21 of their 28 matches (.750 winning percentage) at Smeds Tennis Center to put forth a solid showing. 

Carthage continued to play at Smeds, hosting four teams for the Firebird Challenge on in mid September. The unique format featured a series of best-of-three matchups between teams where each team's duo in a particular flight played a doubles match against their competition, while both members also played a singles match. The Firebirds were victorious in flights four and six and took second in flight two. 

Closing out the fall slate, Carthage traveled to St. Peter, Minnesota for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Tournament in early October. Yanozie Amadike put together a solid tournament run, advancing to the round of 16 in the singles draw before eventually bowing out. The experienced senior secured wins over Carleton, Gustavus Adolphus, and Grinnell before falling to UW-Whitewater. Amadike also joined Francisco Silveira in doubles, advancing to the third round after picking up victories over SJU and UW-Eau Claire. 

After falling to Carleton to open up spring competition, the Firebirds rattled off three wins in a row - including an 8-1 victory over an NCAA qualifier (MSOE). Carthage fell to a strong UW-Whitewater team before picking up wins over UW-Eau Claire and Illinois Institute of Technology ahead of its annual Spring Break trip. 

Facing a true gauntlet in Florida, the Firebirds still managed to walk away with a 3-2 record, including a pair of sweeps. Carthage faced a pair of NCAA DIII qualifiers in Denison (L, 0-9), and Transylvania (W, 7-2), splitting the contests. The team's other loss down south came to Division II Saint Thomas Aquinas College, while its other two wins came in sweeps against College of St. Scholastica and UW-Superior. 

The Firebirds returned home to Kenosha for one last non-conference dual match, picking up a convincing win over Lake Forest to move its win streak to three with conference play set to begin. Carthage opened up conference competition with a home matchup against North Central College, falling 4-5 in a tight match in Racine. Amadike dropped a tough match at the No. 1 flight, losing in three sets, while Cooper Ferruzzi came up short in a pair of tiebreakers to fall at the No. 4 flight. Thought the loss felt disappointing at the time, it would end up being the Firebirds only loss in conference play and spark a 10-match win streak. 

Carthage won its next six CCIW matches, winning the first five in dominant fashion; the Firebirds swept three of their five opponents during that span and won the other two matches 8-1. A win over Augustana (Ill.) capped off an impressive finish to the regular season, as the Firebirds entered the CCIW Men's Tennis Tournament on fire. 

Wins over the No. 7 and No. 3 seeds in the first two rounds set up an inevitable, drama-laden, showdown with the No. 1 North Central College Cardinals. North Central defeated the Firebirds in the championship match in Kenosha the year prior, and took the conference opener this season as well. The No. 2 Firebirds fell in an early 0-2 hole after being defeated quickly at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles flights, but were saved by a captivating victory at the No. 2 flight. Cooper Ferruzzi and Francisco Silveira staved off a number of match points to claw back and secure a crucial 8-7(10) win, putting the Firebirds within striking distance with the singles matches set to begin. 

North Central took a 4-3 lead match lead after splitting the first four singles matches with Carthage, meaning Silveira and first-year player Luca Okino needed victories to avoid a second-consecutive championship defeat to the Cardinals. Silveira held serve at No. 2 singles, putting the weight of the tournament on the shoulders of the No. 5 singles players. Okino fell 2-6 in set one before bouncing back to win 6-3 in the second set, setting up a championship-defining third set in Wheaton, Illinois. Okino fell behind late in the third before breaking Guillermo Gonzalez twice to take the third set 7-5, clinching Carthage's 12th conference title in a miraculous fashion. The conference championship was Carthage's first since 2016, and earned the team automatic qualification to the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships. 

Placed in WashU's region, the quest for a national title began for Carthage in St. Louis, Missouri - a common destination for the Firebirds at the NCAA Championships. The NCAA appearance was the program's first since 2016, though the Firebirds did send program-legend Herman Abban in singles and the historic pairing of Herman Abban and Pawel Jaworski in doubles in 2017. The Firebirds opened with a battle against Covenant College (Ga.), winning the first four singles matches to earn its first NCAA Tournament win since 2016. Carthage lost two of the three doubles matches, narrowly escaping a 0-3 deficit after securing an 8-7(4) win at the No. 3 flight. 

The incredible journey for Carthage ended the following day at the rackets of No. 3 WashU, though the team's run had already inspired so many. Carthage will enter the 2023-2024 season with a young, exciting core and a whole season's worth of shortcomings, triumphs, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences to reflect back on and use to its advantage. 



 

• 9/10 | CCIW Individual Tournament | No team result (Day two cancelled)
• 9/17 | Firebird Challenge | No team result
• 9/30-10/3 | ITA Midwest Regional Tournament | No team result 
• 2/4 | vs Carleton College | L | 4-5
• 2/4 | vs MSOE | W | 8-1
• 2/10 | vs Concordia (Wis.) | W | 9-0
• 2/10 | vs UW-La Crosse | W | 9-0
• 2/17 | vs UW-Whitewater | L | 3-6
• 2/25 | vs UW-Eau Claire | W | 6-3
• 3/5 | at Illinois Institue of Technology | W | 9-0
• Spring Break Trip - Florida
  • 3/14 | vs Denison University | L | 0-9
  • 3/14 | vs College of St. Scholastica | W | 9-0
  • 3/15 | vs Saint Thomas Aquinas College | L | 0-7
  • 3/16 | vs Transylvania University | W | 7-2
  • 3/17 | vs UW-Superior | W | 9-0
• 3/24 | vs Lake Forest College | W | 8-1
• 4/1 | vs North Central College | L | 4-5
• 4/6 | vs Carroll University | W | 9-0
• 4/11 | vs Elmhurst University | W | 9-0
• 4/14 | at Millikin University | W | 8-1
• 4/15 | at Illinois Wesleyan University | W | 9-0
• 4/19 | at Wheaton College | W | 8-1
• 4/22 | vs Augustana College | W | 5-4
• 2023 CCIW Men's Tennis Tournament
  • vs No. 7 Carroll University | W | 5-0
  • vs No. 3 Millikin University | W | 5-1
  • vs No. 1 North Central College | W | 5-4
• 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship
  • vs Covenant College (Ga.) | W | 5-2
  • vs No. 3 WashU | L | 0-5

Award Winners

• For the tenth time in his storied career, head men's tennis coach Brady Lindsley earned CCIW Men's Tennis Coach of the Year honors after helping Carthage to a 15-5 overall record and a 6-1 record in conference play during the regular season. The Firebirds swept eight separate opponents during the regular season and picked up wins over a pair of NCAA qualifiers in MSOE (8-1) and Transylvania (7-2). Lindsley also won his 800th career dual match this season, combined between his time as the leader of Carthage's men's and women's tennis programs - highlighting his sustained success. 
• First-year tennis player Francisco Silveira, from Niterói, Brazil, walked away with two incredible honors after a sensational rookie campaign. Silveira was awarded CCIW First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year and was also named All-CCIW First Team. In singles, the Brazilian went 19-7 overall and cruised through the conference slate, going 6-0. Silveira teamed up with junior Cooper Ferruzzi to tie for the team lead in doubles victories, amassing 20 wins while losing only five times. In all, Silveira won 43 matches in his first year as a Firebird - a truly incredible feat. Silveira was also named the team's most valuable performer at The Embers awards, as well as Carthage's Male Newcomer of the Year. 
• Ensuring Silveira had some company on the first team was senior Yanozie Amadike, who earned the honor for the second-consecutive season after holding down both the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles flights all season long. Amadike picked up 11 singles wins this year, including nine at the No. 1 flight. Amadike joined fellow upperclassman Myles Krzewinski at the No. 1 doubles flight, racking up 15 total victories and five conference wins. The pairing also spent a great deal of the spring as a regionally-ranked doubles pairing by the ITA. 'ZiZi' also surpassed 100 career combined wins this season, joining a prestigious list of student-athletes in the history of Carthage men's tennis. 
• Amadike's partner at No. 1 doubles, junior Myles Krzewinski, earned second-team all-conference honors after thriving as both a doubles and singles player this year. Aside from his success with Amadike at the top doubles flight, Krzewinski went 14-5 in singles matches; the junior made it through the conference slate unblemished, going 6-0 against CCIW opponents. Krzewinski was also named the Firebirds' Scholar-Athlete award winner at The Embers, and was selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) 2023 Academic All-District ® Men's Tennis Team. 
• Carthage's Cooper Ferruzzi, a junior from Bristol, Wisconsin, was named the team's RESPECT Award winner. At the conclusion of every sports season, each varsity program will recognize one student-athlete as their RESPECT Award honoree. Ferruzzi tied for the team lead in total victories this season with 43, and was also selected to the CSC 2023 Academic All-District ® Men's Tennis Team along with Krzewinski. 
• The team earned Game of the Year honors at The Embers as well for their triumph over No. 1 North Central in the CCIW Championship. 

Singles Wins Leaders

• 1. Cooper Ferruzzi - 21
• 2. Francisco Silveira - 19
• 3. Luca Okino - 16

Doubles Wins Leaders

• T1. - Francisco Silveira/Cooper Ferruzzi - 20
• T1. - Marco Czosnyka/Daniel Jaworski - 20
• 3. - Yanozie Amadike/Myles Krzewinski - 15

Total Wins Leaders

• T1. Cooper Ferruzzi - 43
• T1. Francisco Silveira - 43
• 3. Marco Czosnyka - 33

 

1.  Carthage College - 19-6 (6-1)
2.  North Central College - 16-7 (6-1)
3.  Millikin University - 16-6 (5-2)
4.  Augustana College - 11-7 (4-3)
5.  Wheaton College - 12-10 (4-3)
6.  Illinois Wesleyan University - 10-10 (2-5)
7.  Carroll University - 10-10 (1-6)
8. Elmhurst University - 3-10 (0-7)

"What a year! CCIW Champs! These guys bonded together and worked as hard as any team I have ever coached. I truly think these guys epitomize what a TEAM really is. Every single kid played hard not only for their own success, but for the success of the teammates.... and it showed. It seemed like every big moment we had, it was a different player who stepped up to carry the torch that day," proudly remarked Carthage Firebirds head men's and women's tennis coach Brady Lindsley.

"We had a phenomenal senior leader in [Yanozie] Amadike. His class, character, and competitiveness really set the tone for our entire team. We also had such steady performances from freshman Francisco Silveira and juniors Myles Krzewinski and Cooper Ferruzzi. Those three anchored the middle of our lineup and just seemed to never lose. We also had some big clutch moments from first-year students Luca Okino, Marco Czosnyka and Daniel Jaworski. It really was a GREAT team effort."

"It has been an absolute pleasure to have coached these guys. I am extremely proud of them and all they have accomplished."