Contact:
Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 13, 2021) – Playing a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday, the Loras College men's tennis team (2-1) split against Greenville University (0-2) and Illinois Wesleyan University (3-0), defeating the Panthers 7-2 to start the day before falling in a down to the wire 5-4 decision against the Titans.
The Duhawks took control with a 2-1 lead to open the match against the Panthers after
Kevin Blomquist and
Thomas Kampmier defeated Luke Motsinger and Tyler Blume, 8-2, at the No. 1 position and
Tommy Linkenheld and
Konnor Barth won their match at the No. 2 position, 8-2, against Austin Burkhart and Zach Merrill.
Eian Coad kept the momentum going into singles with a win against Matt Lehr at No. 6, 6-2, 6-0. Greenville came back to tack on a win at No. 2, but the Duhawks rebounded to win the next four matches.
Connor Pivnicka's 7-6, 6-1 win at No. 5 against Merrill clinched the victory for Loras while Barth battled through to a 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 tiebreaker win at No. 3. Blomquist rallied back from a 6-7 first set against Motsinger at No. 1 to win the next two 6-2, 9-7, and Kampmier kept it rolling with a No. 4 win against Matthew Rodriguez, 7-5, 7-5.
In the second match of the day, the Titans took the lead with wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles, but Linkenheld and Barth defeated Evan Turnbull and Ryan McCoy at the No. 2 position, 8-5. Just as he had against the Panthers, Coad scored the first win for the Duhawks in singles play, defeating Dylan Mikaili at No. 6, 6-1, 6-2, to tie the match 2-2. Illinois Wesleyan came back to win the No. 2 and 3 matches but Pivnicka defeated Turnbull at No. 5, 6-2, 7-5 and Kampmier won his match against Tim Hughes in the tiebreaker, coming back from a 4-6 loss in the first set to win the next two 6-3, 10-5 at No. 4 and tie the score, 4-4. With one match left, the win was in limbo for either team, but the Titans pulled away with the win at the No. 1 position to pull out the win.
Loras resumes competition on Saturday Mar. 6 when the Duhawks travel to Winona, Minn. to play Saint Mary's University. Matches begin at noon.
