Blueboys Tennis Conquer First Shutout Of Season By Eliminating Owls 9-0

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois College men's tennis team returned to the court after having one day off by hosting the Owls of Mississippi University for Women Friday afternoon at Bellatti Tennis Complex. The Blueboys earned their first shutout of the season by dominating the Owls by the final score of 9-0. With the victory, IC currently stands at 3-1 on this six-game homestand that improves the overall record to 4-5. 

The Blueboys got off to a quck 3-0 lead by winning all three doubles matches. In the No. 1 doubles match, the duo of Jeff Wernsing and Glenn Conway blanked their opponents and won the set by the score of 8-0. In the No. 2 match, Arkansas native twins in Andrus Dupre and Grayson Dupre eliminated their opponents by the final of 8-0. In the No. 3 match, Momir Vickovic and Allen Oakley cruised past their opponents with the final score of 8-2. 

In single matches, the Blueboys generated the shutout by winning all six singles matches. In the No. 1 singles match, Wernsing earned his fourth singles match victory of the season by eliminating his opponent by the final score of 6-3 and 6-2. In the No. 2 match, Conway wasted no time and defeated his opponent in straight sets by the score of 8-0. In the No. 3 singles match, G. Dupre won the opening set by the score of 6-3 before blanking his opponent in the second set 8-0 to win the match. In the No. 4 singles match, A. Dupre showed his talents in both sets and eliminated his opponent in two sets by the final of 6-1 and 6-3.

The match of the day was the No. 5 singles match between IC's Oakley and Jasper Poag. From the start, both student-athletes went point-for-point against one another when Oakley used a late rally in set one to win the set 7-6. In the second set, it was the complete opposite as Poag got the upper hand late that forced a tiebreaker set. In the tiebreaker set, the battle continued fiercely as Oakley rallied behind the home court cheering section to defeat his opponent by the final score of 4-3.   

In the No. 6 singles match, Antonio Loaiza opened his match by blanking his opponent 6-0 in set one. In set two, Loaiza captured his first career singles victory by defeating his opponent by the score 6-4. 

The Blueboys will conclude this six-match homestand tomorrow Saturday, March 23 with a double-header starting with the Gorlocks of Webster University at 9:00AM followed by Westminster College (Mo) at 2:00PM.