Illinois schools treat men’s tennis rough in first weekend of matches

by Brock Borgeson

Men’s tennis kicked off their season with a 3-match weekend road-trip to Galesburg and Rock Island, Ill. on Saturday and Sunday, losing all three matches, 8-1, 5-4, 8-1.

Feb. 7 – GALESBURG, Ill.

Match 1: L, 8-1: North Central College (Ill.) 8, Simpson 1

Of the six players that traveled this past weekend, all six competed in singles and doubles as the team played without junior, Zach Kusick.

Men’s tennis kicked off the weekend with the North Central College Cardinals out of Naperville, Ill. losing 8-1 as the combination of freshman Connor Barnard and senior Jeff Armstrong got the lone Storm win, coming in doubles.

Barnard was the lone player to push a singles match to three sets, falling 0-6, 7-5, 10-6.

Other Results:

Singles:

Connor Cass (NCC) def. Peter Reitgraf 8-4

Aleksandar Vasic (NCAA) def. Jeff Armstrong (8-0)

Adam Winters (NCC) def. Aaron Smith (6-1, 6-0)

Ryan Doeckel (NCC) def. Adam Weiser (6-1, 6-0)

Tyler Ringle (NCC) def. Gabe Dubberke (6-0, 6-0)

Doubles:

Connor Sass/Ryan Doeckel (NCC) def. Aaron Smith/Adam Weiser (8-2)

Adam Winters/Kevin Davenport (NCC) def. Peter Reitgraf/Gabe Dubberke (8-3)

Match 2: L, 5-4: Knox College (Ill.) 5, Simpson 4

Things were tighter in the second match of the day as the Storm fell by the slimmest of margins to the host, Knox College Prairie Fire, 5-4.

The men would split as a team, 3-3, in singles play.

After dropping the first two matches, Armstrong defeated Ashwin Kushwaha, 7-6, 6-0, winning set one on a 8-6 tiebreaker.

After a Knox win in the four spot, Weiser defeated Ganesh Uppalapu 8-1 to earn his first individual win of his career.

Simpson’s Gabe Dubberke would close singles play with a 8-2 win over Zair Zahid.

The match was decided in doubles play, as Knox won two of three to earn the 5-4 overall win.

The Prairie Fire would win in slots one and two clinch the match, Peter Reitgraf and Dubberke salvaged a 8-2 win over Zahid and Ganesh Uppalapu, but it wasn’t enough to get Simpson over the edge.

Barnard, from Waterloo, showed promise, nearly coming away with a win in the two spot, losing in tiebreak once again.

Other Results:

Singles:

Walter Palmer (KC) def. Peter Reitgraf (6-1, 6-3)

Karl Ruzgas (KC) def. Connor Barnard (6-2, 7-6 (7-0)

Rohail Khan (KC) def. Aaron Smith (6-3, 6-2)

Doubles:

Walter Palmer/Karl Ruzgas (KC) def. Connor Barnard/Jeff Armstrong (8-2)

Ashwin Kushwaha/Rohail Khan (KC) def. Aaron Smith/Adam Weiser (8-6)

Feb. 8 – MOLINE, Ill.

L, 8-1: Augustana 8, Simpson 1

Simpson stayed in western Illinois on Sunday, heading to the Iowa-Illinois border as they fell to the Augustana College Vikings, 8-1 at the Quad-City Tennis Club.

Freshman Aaron Smith was the lone Storm player who earned a win in Moline, winning 7-5, 6-4 in the five spot over Anthony Steinle.

Adam Weiser was the next closest to earning a win for Simpson, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Adderly Clark as no other Storm competitor, in singles or doubles, won more than three games in a set.

Other Results:

Singles:

Samuel Totten (AC) def. Peter Reitgraf (6-0, 6-1)

Patrick Lenz (AC) def. Connor Barnard (6-1, 6-0)

Jonathan Elsey (AC) def. Jeff Armstrong (6-0, 6-2)

Arthur Kasteel (AC) def. Gabe Dubberke (6-2, 6-3)

Doubles:

Eric Pohl/Samuel Totten (AC) def. Jeff Armstrong/Connor Barnard (8-0)

Austin Schoeck/Harald Olsson (AC) def. Adam Weiser/Aaron Smith (8-1)

Jack Alexander/Nicholas Prabhakar (AC) def. Peter Reitgraf/Gabe Dubberke (8-1)

Simpson men’s tennis will look to rebound as they head to Galesburg again on Saturday, Feb. 21, facing off with Webster University and Illinois College.