Knox/Lake Forest box score
Knox/Grinnell box score

Grinnell, IA – The Prairie Fire men’s tennis team began league play with a loss on Saturday.

Knox entered the day with two straight wins.  The string ended with setbacks to Lake Forest College and Grinnell College.

The Pioneers (9-3, 1-0 MWC South), ranked #14 in the region and seeking a 10th consecutive Midwest Conference championship this season, blanked the Prairie Fire 9-0 in the first Midwest Conference South Division match for both squads.

The second set in the #3 singles match between Knox sophomore Walter Palmer (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) and Charlie Wilhelm of Grinnell was the closest between the two schools.  Wilhelm got past Palmer 7-6 after winning the first set 6-0 to end Palmer’s three match win streak. 

Palmer and his #1 doubles partner, sophomore  Karl Ruzgas (Downers Grove, IL, Downers Grove North), lost to the Pioneers’ #1 doubles team to snap their string of three consecutive victories.

The Prairie Fire (4-5, 0-1 MWC South) began the day against Lake Forest (1-4), a member of the MWC North Division.  Knox stayed close but couldn’t get over the top in a 5-4 defeat.

The Foresters, who lost to Grinnell 8-1 earlier in the day, had the upper hand in singles play with wins in four of the six matches while the Prairie Fire won two of three in doubles play.

The singles winners for Knox were Palmer at #3 and senior David Ham (Lakewood, WA, Shadow Ridge) at #4, both in three sets.  Ruzgas and Palmer prevailed (8-6) in #1 doubles while Ham and sophomore Jonathan Ng (Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong International School) also won their #2 doubles match (8-6).

Knox resumes play on March 2 against Carroll University.  The match is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. at Lakeside Tennis Center in Galesburg.

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