Men's Match against Lake Forest

After Coach Barnes and I returned from our second trip to Iowa on Saturday in as many weeks, we prepared for the Men's matches on Sunday against Lake Forest College and Dubuque University. Due to inclement weather there was some shuffling going on and the matches were moved indoors to Four Lakes Athletic Club. Unfortunately though the new plan wouldn't work for the Dubuque Men's team so they had to cancel. This left the men with only one match that day, but the 'Hawks were still looking forward to getting out to play. 

For this match the 'Hawks were able to use almost every player on their roster. The only player who didn't get in the line-up was Tim Worley, who picked up a win a 7 singles. Even with players sitting out of doubles, the 'Hawks came out firing. Shklyar/Osborne were close with their opponents early before breaking out to win 8-3 at 1 doubles. Balkin/Humphreys and Friend/Laktash both played exceptionally well and came away with strong wins at 2 and 3 doubles respectively dropping a total of 1 game in both matches. 

With the 3-0 lead heading into singles the 'Hawks felt strong about their play. The singles line-up included a few players who aren't normally present including, Brian Klein at 3 singles, Matt Bisbee at 4 singles, Michael Shcnarr at 5 singles, and Max Hawksford at 6 singles.Andy McGlashen and Andrew Bayliss were also present in the singles line-up, but in spots that are higher than they normally play at 1 and 2 singles. Bayliss, Klein, Bisbee, and Hawksford all had quick wins without dropping a set, but there was some drama at the 1 and 5 singles spots. Andy won his first set at 1 singles, only to lose the second set after some great shots by his opponent. This forced the match into a third set tiebreaker. Andy took an early lead in the breaker, but his opponent was not finished. His opponent brought the tiebreaker to 8-7 before Andy closed out the next two points to win 10-7. The other dramatic match of the day was at 5 singles where after taking the first set in a breaker Michael Schnarr found himself down 2-5. After stringing a few good games together he found himself down 4-5. At this point the games were starting to get longer and you could see the wear on both players, but when they switched ends Michael found himself up 6-5. The next game he then finished off the 5 game comeback to take the second set 7-5.

To see complete scores from the match click here

Up next for the 'Hawks is a Varisty Reserve match against Carthage College at UWW Tuesday 4/16 (weather permitting). The next varsity match for the 'Hawks will be when UW-Whitewater hosts the WIAC Final Four this Friday and Saturday.