Box score #1Box score #2GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – The Prairie Fire opened Midwest Conference play with a convincing win over Ripon College, and then came up just short in a nail biter against St. Norbert College on Saturday.
Knox took two of three doubles matches and swept the singles competition against the Red Hawks in an 8-1 victory at the Green Bay Tennis Center.
Seniors
Walter Palmer (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) and
Karl Ruzgas (Downers Grove, IL, Downers Grove North) prevailed 8-2 at #1 doubles. First-year
Ashwin Kushwaha (Rochester, MN, Mayo) and sophomore
Rohail Khan (Islamabad, Pakistan, Roots School System) rolled to an 8-1 win in their #2 doubles match.
Three of the singles matches were decided in three sets. Palmer came back to beat Ripon's Eric Seiler 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 in the #1 singles slot. First-year
Ganesh Uppalapu (Glen Ellyn, IL, Glenbard South) held off #5 singles opponent Nick Julian 6-4, 1-6, 10-4 and sophomore
Zair Zahid (Lahore, Pakistan, Lahore Grammar School) won a hard-fought #6 singles battle against Pheng Vang 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 11-9. Ruzgas handled Lincoln Wurtz 6-1, 6-0 at #2, Kushwaha defeated J.J. Grinde 6-4, 6-1 at #3, and Khan pulled away from Anders Goodwin 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to earn the #4 singles win for the Prairie Fire.
Khan, who played 13 of his 15 dual singles matches last season in the #6 position, is gaining confidence.
"Playing up the order, it feels great to get to compete against players who were much better than me last year. It's a good indicator of the improvement that I've made, thanks to Coach Miriam and my teammates," he said. "I've even been lucky enough to get a few good wins at a spot that I was skeptical about playing at the start of the season. That's the least that coach deserves for the amount of effort she's put in with me over the course of the past 18 months."
Uppalapu believes the team's tough non-conference schedule was beneficial. "Lots of difficult matches. But we learned a lot and applied it to our first Midwest Conference match and secured victories."
Knox hoped to sweep the day after another strong start against St. Norbert, but a couple of close singles matches went the other way and tipped the scales in a 5-4 loss at the Four Seasons Tennis Club.
Palmer and Ruzgas fought their way to a 9-8 win against the #1 doubles team for the Green Knights. Kushwaha and Khan also moved to 2-0 on the day at #2 doubles with an 8-5 triumph.
Palmer went on to beat Travis Bueschel of St. Norbert 6-2, 6-4 to claim their #1 singles contest. Ruzgas added the second four-win day of his career, both this season, by defeating Nate Gosz 7-5, 7-5 at #2 singles.
The Prairie Fire (2-14, 1-1 MWC) needed to take one more singles contest to secure their first match win over the Green Knights in well over a decade, but the hosts were up to the challenge.
Kushwana forced a third set at #3 singles, but his opponent Leon Gilman closed out the match 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Meanwhile, Khan took the first set against Casey Brice in a tussle at #4. But Brice came back for the 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win. St. Norbert (4-6, 2-0) claimed the match with a pair of 6-0, 6-0 victories at #5 and #6 singles.
Palmer and Ruzgas moved to 10-4 overall in dual play at #1 doubles, which is among the best marks in the Midwest Conference. Zahid said the two of them are more than good tennis players. "It's hard when you are new to tennis, but the coach and the seniors are extremely supportive. They make you want to try harder to reach your goals."
Knox head coach Miriam Skrade liked what she saw out of her team.
""Today was a great start to conference competition for the men. We have been gearing up for these matches throughout the winter season. It was rewarding for everyone to have that pay off in wins."
The Prairie Fire conclude their two-day stay in Wisconsin with another MWC match against Lawrence University (7-8, 1-1 MWC) Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at the Green Bay Tennis Center.
