Results

Madison, WI – The Prairie Fire won three consolation titles in singles play and all three doubles teams won their first round matches at the Midwest Conference Men’s Tennis Championships.

Senior Erik Hane (Littleton, CO, Mullen) bounced back after dropping his quarterfinals match in #1 singles by winning two straight, the last an 8-1 victory against Eric Seiler of Ripon College to claim the consolation title.

First-year  Karolis Ruzgas (Downers Grove, IL, Downers Grove North) took the same route to the consolation championship in #2 singles.  He downed Max Zlevor of Lawrence 8-4 in his final match.

First-year Jonathan Ng (Hong Kong, China) lost his #3 singles quarterfinals match in three sets before winning in the consolation semifinals 8-2 against Joshua Kuehn of Illinois College to earn a spot in the consolation title match.  Ng fell 8-2 against Caleb Ray of Lawrence University.

First-year Walter Palmer (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) defeated Nick Acosta of St. Norbert College in the #4 singles first round.  He then battled Ryne Fertitta of Carroll University in the quarterfinals and lost a close match 7-6, 7-5, 8-6.

Junior Shaun Mulani (Bourbonnais, IL, Bradley-Bourbannais) won the Prairie Fire’s third consolation championship in #5 singles.  After falling in the quarterfinals, Mulani won his consolation first round match against Xander Benziger of IC 8-0 and then toppled Josh Sweere of St. Norbert 8-4.

Junior David Ham (Lakewood, WA, Shadow Ridge) opened with a round one win in #6 singles against Ryan Slowinski of Ripon.  He bowed out in the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 loss against Tyler Lampe of Monmouth College.

The Prairie Fire’s #1, #2, and #3 doubles teams each won their first matches but were cut short with losses their next step along the way.

Hane and Palmer earned a victory against Illinois College in #1 doubles, Ruzgas and Mulani also defeated IC’s #2 doubles team, and Ng and Ham won a close quarterfinals match in #3 doubles against St. Norbert – 6-7 (4-0), 6-2, 6-3 before losing to Grinnell College’s doubles team 6-3, 6-3.

The Prairie Fire collected 29 points in doubles and singles play on April 28 and 29 and placed seventh in the MWC.  The tournament was held at the Nielsen Tennis Center on the University of Wisconsin campus. 

Grinnell College repeated as the conference champion, the school's ninth straight in men's tennis.

Prairie fire men's tennis coach John Baillie received an honor by being named Coach of the Year with Carroll’s Craig Mours.  In addition, Knox was named the Sportsmanship winner.

A recap of the doubles championship from the MWC is available at http://www.midwestconference.org/news/2012/4/29/MTEN_0429123315.aspx