[Results]
[Championships Page]
MADISON, Wis. – Grinnell claimed a pair of doubles championships and Lake Forest won in the other at the 2012 Midwest Conference Men’s Tennis Championships in Madison, Wis. on Sunday. The Pioneers took home gold in the No. 1 and 3 flights while Lake Forest earned its only doubles championship of the weekend in the No. 2 flight.
Grinnell earned gold in the No. 1 flight behind the play of Michael Cole and Elliott Czarnecki. The duo won a hard fought contest against Knox’s Erik Hane and Walter Palmer 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 in the quarterfinals before taking three sets to defeat Ryan Kreis and Anthony Warren 6-3, 3-6, 5-7 in the semifinals. Grinnell then won the doubles title by downing St. Norbert’s Derek Harrington and Nick Acosta 6-1, 6-4.
Jon Adams and Elliott Muth were winners in the No. 2 flight after three straight victories. They started in the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Ripon’s Sam Ewig and Derrick Winterhack before defeating the St. Norbert duo of Tim Hartwick and Matt Lobeck 7-5, 6-3. In one of the longest and fierciest competitions of the weekend the Lake Forest pair battled past Monmouth’s Parker Featherson and Chris Utterback in three sets 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7) and 6-4 to claim gold.
Colin Johnson and Aaron Lapkin captured a title in the No. 3 flight with a three set victory over Chris Franco and Tyler Lampe of Monmouth. Johnson and Lapkin started off the day as the top seed in the flight and defeated the Lawrence pair of Craig Sherwood and Jeremy Andereck 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals they scored idealical 6-3 wins in straight sets over Knox’s Jonathan Ng and David Ham before winning gold. The winning du dropped the first set of the match 6-2 before rearing back and winning 6-2 and 6-3.
Knox was recognized for their sportsmanship all season, and in the tournament, receiving the team Sportsmanship Award for the 2012 season. Knox head coach John Baillie and Carroll head coach Craig Mours were both honored as Co- Midwest Conference Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year. Both of the awards were voted on by the member coaches at this weekend’s championship.
With the team championship being decided on Friday Grinnell will move on to represent the Midwest Conference in the 2012 NCAA Regional Tournament with opponents and dates to be determined.
Team Standings:
*1. Grinnell – 66
*2. Monmouth – 72
3. Lake Forest – 64
4. Carroll – 51
5. Lawrence – 38
6. St. Norbert – 35
7. Knox – 29
8. Ripon – 7
9. Illinois C. – 0
*top two seeds determined by team tournament