CHICAGO, Ill. – The Calvin University men's tennis team held off a rally in singles play to win 5-4 at Illinois Tech on Saturday night.
Calvin (4-0) started well in doubles play by taking two of the three possible points. The number-one team of
Maurquis Willingham (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) and
Corwin Kim (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson) won 8-3, as did the number-two team of
Felipe Sartori (Cotia, Brazil/Colégio Giusto Zonzini) and
Rodrigo Alipio (Santos, Brazil/COC Universitário), but Illinois Tech (2-6) was able to salvage a point with an 8-6 win in the third match.
In singles, Alipio (6-1, 6-3) and Willingham (6-2, 6-4) both registered points at the number one and three spots, but the each of the three matches in the second half of the line-up went to third set tiebreakers.
Both
Ryan Broek (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) and
Harrison Sindelar (Westfield, Ind./Westfield) went to third sets before falling 11-9 in those tiebreakers as the Scarlett Hawks knotted the match 4-4.
In the deciding point in number-six singles,
Emmanuel Henao (Medellin, Columbia/Escuela Normal Superior "La Merced") overcame a 6-4 loss in the opening set to win the second set 7-5, and then took the tiebreaker 10-5 to secure the fifth and deciding point and the Calvin win.
COACH'S COMMENT: "Tonight was a big road win for us against a strong opponent," Calvin head tennis coach
John Ross said. "Congrats to Emmanuel for his huge tiebreaker set to help us get the win."
NEXT UP: Calvin men's tennis will return to action on March 4, when it starts its spring break trip to Orlando, Florida, with a match against Concordia College (Minn.).
