The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's tennis team finished competition Saturday at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional Championships and the Midwest Open at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.
ITA RESULTS | MIDWEST OPEN RESULTS
The Blugold men had a great weekend at the Midwest Open run along side the regional tournament, both hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College. For the second year in a row a UW-Eau Claire player was named champion. First year player Matt Christensen led the way for the Blugolds winning six matches on his way to tournament champion. Christensen defeated Smith (Luther) 6-4, 7-6 in the championship match. Sophomore Evan Fridinger (Woodbury, Minn./Eastridge) had a successful weekend winning his first round match over Yang (Mac), defeating Wachtler (Bethel) in the second round and advanced to the round of 32 before losing to Swanson (Concordia Moorehead). First year player Ethan Grissom opened up his career as a Blugold with three wins and advanced to the round of 16. In doubles action at the Midwest Open, Felipe Laporte and Logan Scott paired up and earned a first round win before being defeated by Detmer/Inturi (Grinnell). Ethan Grissom and Tom Williams had a first round victory over Rudh/Graves (SMU), winning 8-4. The duo lost in the second round to LeDoux/Alex (Grinnell) who advanced to the quaterfinal. Collin Sebring and Kole Kolinski also competed in the doubles tournament for the Blugolds. The pair drew a tough first round match-up and lost to the eventual event doubles champions.
Zach Janssen (Green Bay, Wis. / Notre Dame),Daniel Schoen (Brookfield, Wis. /Central), and Grant Mauthe (Neenah, Wis.) all competed in the singles regional, and all earned first round wins for the Blugolds. The round of 64 was not as sucessful as all three Blugolds' were defeated in round two. Renan Barros (Itajai, Santa Catarina, Brazil) entered the tournament seeded in the top 28 but lost in the first round to Chhugani (Carleton), while Adam Burk (Forest Lake, Minn. ) lost his first round match to Ackert (Coe). UW-Eau Claire had four doubles teams compete in the doubles regional that had a field of 64, none of the Blugold pairs made it out of the first round.
The Blugold men who finished 18-4 last season will start competion again in February 2019.
