KOHLER, Wis. - The Wisconsin Lutheran College men's tennis team split a pair of conference road dual matches with Concordia Wisconsin and Lakeland on Saturday. The Warriors fell to the Falcons 8-1 in their morning match, before defeating the Muskies 6-3 for their second conference win in the afternoon.
In doubles play, Lee Johnson (Hales Corners, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) and Zach Birner (Neenah, Wis./Luther Preparatory) dropped a tight tussle with the Falcons' Benjamin Nommensen and Brad Guendel, 8-6 at No. 1. CUW (6-9, 4-1 NACC) won 8-4 and 8-1 at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, respectively.
Winning the only match in the opener for WLC was Johnson who coasted to a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles. The senior improved to 6-0 in NACC duals. Derek Sallmann (Waukesha, Wis./West) battled against Guendel at No. 3 and lost two tough sets 7-5, 6-4.
The Warriors won four singles matches and two doubles matches in their afternoon showdown with Lakeland (1-8, 1-3 NACC).
Johnson and Birner played together for their doubles match again and won 8-2. The duo of Sallmann and Ben Wordell (Lake Mills, Wis./Christian Academy Japan) fell 9-8 (7-2) in their match, but Adam Breister (Fond du Lac, Wis./Winnebago Lutheran) and Austin Wagenknecht (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) rebounded with an 8-5 win.
Johnson and Wordell rolled in their No. 1 and No. 6 singles matches, sweeping their sets 6-0, 6-0. Birner also won in straight sets at No. 2, 6-2, 6-1 as did Sallmann at No. 3, 6-3, 6-0.
Wisconsin Lutheran (3-10, 2-4 NACC) will next take to the courts on Saturday, April 25 when it hosts Dominican (3-5, 2-2 NACC) and Concordia Chicago (1-4, 1-3 NACC) at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, for its final conference matches of the regular season.
