by Eric Willuweit

Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's tennis team saw their run of good fortune in conference play come to an end on Sunday, as the Scarlet Hawks fell to the visting MSOE Radiers 6-3 Sunday morning at the XS Tennis Center. The loss dropped the Scarlet Hawks to 4-1 in NACC play, and 5-11 overall. The Raiders improved to 3-0 in conference and 8-8 overall.

"(It was a) tough loss" said Head Coach Kris Powell. "Doubles was flat and we were not starting and finishing the point. Singles play was better, but going down 0-3 in doubles is an almost impossible feat(to overcome)" said Powell. "The guys fought hard despite the circumstances and know what they need to do moving forward" Powell concluded.

Indeed, the Scarlet Hawks inability to have success in doubles play put the team in an immediate bind, which was compounded when they could only split the six singles matches, 3-3.

In singles play, Alann Torres (6-0, 6-0), Nabil Fawaz (6-4, 6-3) and Jordan Lauer (6-0, 6-2) all came away with singles victories. Danial Zindana (0-6, 4-6), Rodrigo Casado (2-6, 2-6) and Huy Ngo (making his 2023 debut - 1-6, 0-6) all took losses in the four through six singles matches, respectively.

In doubles play, the number one pairing of Torres and Fawaz had the most success, winning 5 games in their 8-5 loss. The number two pairing of  Lauer and Ngo and the number three pairing of Casado and Zindani each lost 8-3.

Up Next

The Scarlet Hawks will head to Greenville, Ill. on Saturday April 1st for a non-conference match with the Greenville University Panthers at 10:00 AM CT. This will be a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Division III first round match between these two schools last May at University of Chicago. The Scarlet Hawks were 5-3 winners on that day.