GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin men's tennis team secured a spot in the MIAA Tournament with a 9-0 victory over Albion on Wednesday. The matched marked the final match for the three Calvin seniors on the Calvin College campus. Calvin improved to 14-5 on the year and 4-2 in the MIAA, Albion fell to 4-13 and 1-5 in MIAA play.
"Today was a good win for us," said head coach John Ross. "It was a nice was for us to close our home schedule. It has been an honor to coach these three seniors. We now have to focus on a very important match on Saturday.
The Knights started the day indoors for doubles competition.
Freshman Rodrigo Castellanos Vaca Guzmán (Tarija, Bolivia / Felipe Palazon) and junior David Brown (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) started the day with an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles. The Calvin duo is 7-4 at No. 2 doubles.
The team of junior Matt VanWinkle (St. Joseph, Mich./St. Joseph) and senior Taylor Asfour (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) cruised over Zach McKenzie and Nick Kinachtchouk at No. 1 doubles, 8-1. This is the second-straight victory for the duo.
Senior Anthony Vroon (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian) and sophomore Jason Wolters (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) closed doubles play with an 8-2 victory at No. 3 doubles over Toma Shngoo and Alexander Dow, 8-2. The Calvin team is now 9-1 at No. 3 doubles.
The outdoor courts had time to dry and the two teams played outside for singles play.
Jason Wolters brought out the brooms at No. 6 singles and swept Alexander Dow, 6-0, 6-0. Wolters is now 10-6 in dual matches.
Taylor Asfour swept his final match on the Calvin courts with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Nick Kinachtchouk at No. 4 singles. Asfour improves to 5-1 at No. 4 singles.
Anthony Vroon finished his senior day with a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 5 singles over Toma Shngoo.
Rodrigo Castellanos Vaca Guzmán bounced Zach McKenzie at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-4. He is now 5-1 in MIAA play.
At No. 2 singles, Matt VanWinkle closed out Josh McGarry, 6-1, 6-2. VanWinkle is now 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
David Brown rallied back at No. 3 singles to complete the sweep. After falling to Robert Joerg in the first set, 5-7, Brown took the second set 7-5 and dominated the third-set tiebreaker, 10-1.
The Knights close the regular season on Saturday at Adrian.
