Men's Tennis Capture MWC Split With Victory Over Ripon

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois College men's tennis team continued Midwest Conference play by hosting Ripon College and Lawrence University for a double-header Saturday at Bellatti Tennis Complex.

The Blueboys opened the day by defeating the Redhawks by the final of 7-2 before dropping the nightcap match to the Vikings by the final of 1-8. With the split, IC currently stands at 7-10 overall and 1-3 in MWC play. 

Match 1: Illinois College 7, Ripon 2

The Blueboys got off to a fantastic start to the day by taking all three doubles matches from Ripon. In the No. 1 doubles match, the duo of Jeff Wernsing and Glenn Conway took care of their opponents with a 8-3 victory.

The No. 2 doubles match was very eventful as the IC team of Grayson Dupre and Andrus Dupre battled their opponents to a point-for-point match which eventually forced a tiebreaker set. In the tiebreaker set, the Dupre's used a early set rally and paced to a 7-3 victory that gave IC the 2-0 lead. 

In the No. 3 doubles match, the team of Allen Oakley and Momir Vickovic handled their opponents with a 8-3 victory.   

In singles matches, the Blueboys conquered four-of-six matches that helped propel to a 7-2 victory. In the No. 1 singles match, Wernsing had his hands full with his opponent in Caleb Sippel as both student-athletes battled to a back-and-forth match. Wernsing dropped the first set 2-6 but stormed back in the second set to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker set, Wernsing went point-for-point against Sippel and fell late in the set by the score of 5-7. 

In the No. 2 singles match, Conway came ready to play as he defeated his opponent in straight sets by the scores of 6-1 and 6-3. 

The No. 3 singles match between IC's Grayson Dupre and Ripon's Ty Rondestvedt was must-see action. Dupre opened the match by taking down Rondestvedt in the opening set by the score of 6-3. However, Rondestvedt got the upper hand in the second set that forced a tiebreaker set. In the winner-take-all set, Dupre battled back-and-forth but fell late in the set by the score of 4-7. 

The No. 4 singles match that featured Andrus Dupre and RC's Jaden Francis was another great match. In the opening set, Dupre took down Francis by the score of 6-3. In the second set, Dupre got off to a set-advantage when he paced to a 6-4 victory. 

The Blueboys split the final two single matches against Ripon where Vickovic earned a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Jack Ives in the No. 6 singles match. 

Match 2: Illinois College 1, Lawrence 8

IC faced very tough competition in the second match of the day against Lawrence. The Blueboys got off to a slow start against the Vikings in doubles matches as IC dropped all three double matches as all three matches were close in score. 

In the No. 1 doubles match that featured the team of Conway and Wernsing battled toe-to-toe against Andrew Larson and Dylan Delgado but dropped the match by the final score of 6-8. 

The Dupre twins paired up once again in the No. 2 doubles match and went back-and-forth against Gabriel Garcia and Ethan Uribe and dropped by the identical score of 6-8. 

The No. 3 doubles match that included Oakley and Vickovic did not go in favor of IC as Oakley and Vickovic got down early and fell by the score of 4-8. 

In single matches, the Blueboys struggled to find momentum and dropped five-of-the-six single matches. The No. 3 singles match between Grayson Dupre and Owen Horton was an absolute thriller to the finish. Dupre opened the match by taking the upper hand in the back-and-forth battle by the score of 7-5. However, in the second set, Horton responded with a 3-6 victory that forced a tiebreaker set. In the tiebreaker set, Dupre and Horton went point-for-point that eventually carried on to a 12-14 match loss by Dupre. 

The No. 4 singles between IC's Andrus Dupre and LU's Garcia was another battle-tested match. Dupre earned the opening set victory by the score of 6-4 but dropped the second set that forced a tiebreaker set. In the winner-take-all set, Dupre got off to a early set lead and closed the match with 7-3 victory.     

The Blueboys will start a four-game road trip on Sunday, April 14 visiting the Blue Jays of Westminster College (Mo) for a non-conference match starting at 1:00 PM in Fulton, Missouri.