Tennis team tames opponents

By Connor Halbmaier

It was an easy day for the men’s tennis team at Oshkosh, Wis. On Saturday, March 16, the men took on Marian. Kicking off the meet at number one doubles was the pairing of first-years Tommy Linkenheld and Sage Klar. Their opponents, Lawson MacDonald and Coy Paulson, struggled in vain against the Duhawks, and were ultimately defeated 8-2. As for number two doubles, it was Duhawks first-years Konnor Barth and Joe Diedrich against Austin Hall and Kyle Carigan. It was a short match for Barth and Diedrich, completely dominating over their opponents and taking the win, 8-0. In number three doubles, Loras took the win due to Marian lacking players. With a 3-0 lead on Marian, Loras moves into the singles with first-year Joe Schneider leading the charge as number one. Facing off against him was MacDonald. It was a close call during the first set for Schneider, but he managed to overcome 6-4, and after having found his game, went on to take the second set 6-0. Following after Schneider was first-year Riley Collins in the number two singles slot. Collins showed no mercy to his opponent, Hall, taking both sets 6-0, 6-0, chalking up yet another win for the Loras team. Following Collins’s lead, Barth stepped up to compete in the number three singles slot. Paulson stood no chance against the Duhawks, falling to him 6-0, 6-0. The last match of the day was Klar taking on Carigan in the number four singles spot. Klar took the first set by storm, winning 6-0. In the second set, Carigan got a point, but that was all he could do to defend against Klar, allowing him to take the second 6-1. With the added points from taking the numbers five and six spots due to a lack of players, Loras took home the win 9-0. “We just went in and took care of business,” said Head Coach Chad Fenwick. “This match gave us a chance to let some of the guys who don’t normally play in the top six to compete, and they handled themselves very well. It was good to be able to give the other players a chance to rest up for the upcoming weekend.” With their overall score now 6-1, the men’s tennis team is looking forward at next weekend, when they’ll have to compete against three different teams: MSOE and Aurora on Saturday, March 23 and Monmouth on Sunday, March 24.