2013 Midwest Conference Men’s Tennis Championships – Madison, Wisconsin
Doubles Championships, April 28
The Prairie Fire added a second consolation title on the final day of competition at the MWC Championships.
Senior David Ham (Lakewood, WA, Shadow Ridge) won the #4 singles consolation championship on Saturday. He and sophomore Jonathan Ng (Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong International School) defeated the #2 doubles team from St. Norbert College in the consolation final.
Ham and Ng lost their quarterfinals match 6-2, 6-4 against Chris Franco and Marco Franco of Monmouth College. They bounced back with an 8-1 victory in the consolation semifinals against Ryan Slowinski and Brian Schumacher of Ripon College. Ham and Ng then rolled to an 8-1 win against St. Norbert’s Casey Brice and Matt Lobeck in the consolation championship match.
Knox’s #1 doubles team of sophomores Karl Ruzgas (Downers Grove, IL, Downers Grove North) and Walter Palmer (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) won their first round match 6-0, 6-2 against Eric Seiler and Connor Greenwald of Ripon. Ruzgas and Palmer lost in the quarterfinals 6-3, 6-2 to Jack Michael and Ryne Fertitta of Carroll University.
The Prairie Fire’s #3 doubles team of first-years Dustin Loch (Glen Ellyn, IL, Glenbard West) and Pragyaditya Mukerjee (Kolkata, India, The Cambridge School) went 1-1 against doubles teams from Ripon and Carroll. Loch and Mukerjee stopped Anders Goodwin and Tyler Hopewell of Ripon 6-3, 6-3 in the first round. Carroll’s Kevin Rasmussen and Eric Schneider downed Loch and Mukerjee 6-0, 6-1.
Knox finished the Midwest Conference Championships with 22 team points and finished in 8th place ahead of Ripon (11) and Illinois College (2). The Prairie Fire were four points behind 7th place Cornell.
Grinnell College won its tenth consecutive conference championship. Lawrence University finished second, Monmouth College third, Carroll University fourth, St. Norbert College fifth, and Lake Forest sixth.
Lawrence coach Kevin Girard was named the Midwest Conference Coach of the Year and Illinois College won the MWC Team Sportsmanship award.
Information about the tournament is available at http://www.midwestconference.org/sports/2013/4/17/MTEN_0417132121.aspx?id=373&
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Singles Championships, April 27
The Prairie Fire had seven wins in singles play, including a consolation championship, on Saturday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium at the University of Wisconsin.
Senior David Ham (Lakewood, WA, Shadow Ridge) earned victories in three of his four matches and won the #4 singles consolation title. Ham lost his first round match 6-3, 6-4 against Travis Buechel of St. Norbert College. He regrouped in the first consolation round by defeating Isaac Jordan of Carroll University 8-5. Ham knocked out Lake Forest College’s Kevin Lasky 8-2 in the consolation semifinals before posting an 8-3 win over Brian Schumacher of Ripon College to claim the consolation crown.
Sophomores Karl Ruzgas (Downers Grove, IL, Downers Grove North), Walter Palmer (Wilmette, IL, New Trier), and Jonathan Ng (Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong International School) also won matches for Knox.
Ng was the only Prairie Fire player to win in the first round. He began with a 6-0, 7-6 (10-8) #3 singles victory against Nick Acosta of St. Norbert College 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3. Ng came from behind in the quarterfinals to down Max Zlevor of Lawrence University 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3 to earn a spot in the semifinals. David Stewart of Monmouth College ended Ng’s run 6-0, 6-4 in the final four. Stewart went on to win the #3 singles championship.
Ruzgas, the #1 singles player for Knox, lost to John Adams of Lake Forest 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. He stayed alive in the consolation semifinals with an 8-2 triumph against Colin Ladd of Illinois College. Ruzgas then lost by default in the consolation finals to Tim Hartwick of St. Norbert.
Palmer, playing #2 singles, lost a hard-fought quarterfinal round match to David Johnson of Monmouth 6-4, 3-6, 4-6. He defeated Kevin Rasmussen of Carroll 8-5 in the consolation semifinals. Palmer’s bid for a consolation championship was cut short by Jason Dunn of Lawrence 8-5.
The Prairie Fire have 13 points and are in eighth place. Complete information about the tournament is available at http://www.midwestconference.org/sports/2013/4/17/MTEN_0417132121.aspx?id=373&
Knox will try to move up in the standings during the doubles championships on Sunday. The matches are scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m.
