Chicago, Ill. - In a hot and humid morning/afternoon, the Illinois Tech men's tennis team outlasted the weather and their opponent, Greenville University, 5-3 Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships at the University of Chicago Stagg Field Tennis Courts. The Scarlet Hawks advance to the second round Friday morning, where their opponent will be the host University of Chicago Maroons. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 12-8 on the season. The Panthers finished their season 19-3 overall.
As Head Coach Kris Powell had predicted, the match turned out to be tightly contested between the two squads.
Illinois Tech won doubles play to take a 2-1 lead to start the match. The number two doubles pair of Davis Housman and Huy Ngo bested Greenville's Clark Kent and Luke Motsinger 8-6. The Hawks' number three pair of Nabil Fawaz and Pable Marroquin Borque defeated Austin Burkhart and Thibaut Tignee 8-3. The Panthers were able to take the number one doubles match, with Andres Sanchez and Rafael Rodriguez defeating the Hawks' Alann Torres and Jordan Lauer 8-4.
Singles play proved to be even more competitive, with two matches having to go to a first-set tiebreaker, and two matches having to go to a third and deciding set. Ultimately the Scarlet Hawks took singles play 3-2 to give them the necessary five wins for the match victory.
Marroquin Borque was the first to the finish line in singles play, taking a 6-2, 6-4 win over Motsinger in the number four singles match to give the Scarlet Hawks a 3-1 lead overall. Greenville responded with Sanchez defeating Torres 6-4, 6-3 in the number one singles match to pull the Panthers within one at 3-2. Greenville pulled even at 3-3 when Tignee defeated Ngo 6-3, 6-2 in the number six singles match.
All eyes turned to the three remaining singles matches - number two, number three and number five. In the number three singles match, Fawaz and Kent split the first two sets, with Fawaz taking set one 7-6 in a tie-breaker, while Kent took set two 7-5. Fawaz pulled away in the third and deciding set, 6-2, to give the Scarlet Hawks a 4-3 advantage. In the number five singles match, the Hawks' Lauer and Greenville's Burkhart also split their first two sets, with Lauer taking set one 6-4 and Burkhart taking set two 6-3, forcing a deciding third set. Before they could finish their match, Housman outlasted Rodriguez in the number two singles match, with Housman winning set one 7-6 in a tie-breaker, and then completing the match victory with a 6-4 win in set two, giving the Scarlet Hawks the five match wins needed.
Fawaz noted the difficulty in playing outdoors and in the heat after the match. "Getting used to playing outdoors (was tough). Most of our season is done at indoor courts. Luckily for me I grew up in California so I am used to this heat, and I am used to playing outdoors" Fawaz said.
Fawaz said the team is ready for their second-round match against the host Maroons. "I think it will be a really interesting match. They are no strangers to us - we played them in pre-season" Fawaz said. "We just have to stick to the plan, go out there and have fun, and do our best" Fawaz continued.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will face the number one-seeded and host University of Chicago Maroons at 10am Friday at the University of Chicago Stagg Field Tennis Courts in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships.