BROOKFIELD, Wis. - The Wisconsin Lutheran College men's tennis team opened its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference schedule by splitting a pair of matches, sweeping Marian 9-0, before suffering an 8-1 setback against Edgewood Saturday at Elite Sports Club.
The Warriors won with ease in their opening doubles matches against Marian as Lee Johnson (Hales Corners, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) and Zach Birner (Neenah, Wis./Luther Preparatory) cruised to an 8-0 win at No. 1. Derek Sallmann (Waukesha, Wis./West) and Austin Wagenknecht (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) claimed an 8-4 victory at No. 2, and Ben Wordell (Lake Mills, Wis./Christian Academy Japan) and Adam Breister (Fond du Lac, Wis./Winnebago Lutheran) finished off the doubles sweep with an 8-2 win at No. 3.
WLC continued to dominate singles play against the Sabres (0-6, 0-2 NACC) after Johnson swept at No. 1 singles 6-0, 6-0. Birner and Sallmann picked up decisions in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots at 6-2, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1, respectively. Breister was victorious 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 4 spot and in the No. 5 position, Wagenknecht secured the win 6-0, 6-3. Wordell completed the sweep with a 6-0, 6-4 decision.
In the second match of the day vs. the Eagles, Johnson and Birner were unable to the defeat Edgewood's (6-9, 2-0 NACC) No. 1 doubles team of Austin Papenthien and Patrick Lagman, falling 8-3. The Warriors could not come out ahead in either of the two remaining doubles matches.
Johnson picked up WLC's lone win at No. 1 singles, defeating Papenthein 6-0, 6-4. Birner was handed a 6-1, 6-1 loss at No. 2, while Sallmann took a 6-4, 7-6 defeat at No. 3 singles. At No. 4 singles, Breister fell 6-1, 6-3; Wagenknecht lost 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5; and at No. 6, Wordell was defeated 7-6, 6-2.
The Warriors (2-7, 1-1 NACC) have off until next Friday when they continue NACC play against cross-town foe MSOE (5-9, 1-1 NACC) for a match starting at 4 p.m.
