by Eric Willuweit

Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's tennis team had a tall task for their season opener: face the reigning NCAA Division III champions, University of Chicago. The Maroons proved too strong, as the Scarlet Hawks fell 9-0 Saturday afternoon at the XS Tennis Center.

"Despite the score, I think everyone competed hard" said Head Coach Kris Powell. "It's good to see a top team early so we can see how much we need to work to improve. Of course there's some technical and strategic things to work on, but I'm very proud of the effort and attitume my team brought" said Powell.

Singles Play (University of Chicago 6 - Illinois Tech 0)

• Despite University of Chicago winning all six singles sets, the Scarlet Hawks won games in every set played except two. Jordan Lauer won six games in his number five singles matchup, while Davis Housman and Nabil Fawaz each won four games in their number two and number three singles matchups, respectively.

Doubles Play (University of Chicago 3 - Illinois Tech 0)

• The most competitive match of the day took place in the number one doubles matchup, where Fawaz and Alann Torres battled the Maroons number one pair of Bailey Forgus and Filippo Martini to a tie-breaker, with University of Chicago taking the match 8-7 (7-4 tie-breaker). The Scarlet Hawks also received a pair of game victories out of the number two doubles pairing (Lauer and Housman) and the number three pairing (Danial Zindani and Pablo Marroquin Borque).

Up Next

The Scarlet Hawks will be back in action next Saturday night, when they host North Central (Ill.) at 7:00 PM at the XS Tennis Center.