NEW BERLIN, Wis. – The fourth-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran College men's tennis team won its first-ever Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament match Monday, sweeping fifth-seeded Aurora 5-0 in first round action at the Princeton Club.
The Warriors (11-9, 7-2 NACC) advance to face top-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering (10-9, 8-1 NACC) Saturday in a NACC Tournament semifinal at 2 p.m. at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. WLC handed MSOE its only conference loss of the season, winning 5-4 back on April 9. In the other semifinal matchup scheduled for Saturday, third-seeded Concordia Wisconsin (13-12, 7-2 NACC) squares off against second-seeded Edgewood (10-15, 7-2 NACC).
Wisconsin Lutheran wasted little time en route to claiming its first conference tournament victory as it won all three doubles flights to begin the match. The No. 1 team of Lee Johnson (Hales Corners, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) and Zach Birner (Neenah, Wis./Luther Preparatory) won 8-4 over AU's Ricky Hernandez and Brian Koski. Ryan Sallmann (Waukesha, Wis./West) and Derek Sallmann (Waukesha, Wis./West) posted an 8-5 victory against Blain Hrovat and Jake Lipka. At No. 3, Jeremy Vanderhyde (Aurora, Colo./Rocky Mountain Lutheran) and David Parez (Milwaukee, Wis./Thomas More) teamed up to collect an 8-4 win over Matt Butler and Michael Hohm.
In singles competition, Johnson was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Hernandez at No. 1, and Derek Sallmann defeated Butler 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4. Matches at No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, and No. 6 singles went unfinished after WLC won its decision fifth match.
