St. Norbert Finishes Fifth at MWC Championship

From Sports Information Director, April 28, 2013 | Men's Tennis
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

MADISON - St. Norbert College finished in fifth place at the Midwest Conference Singles/Doubles Championship held at the University of Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

The Green Knights totaled 42 points, just edging Lake Forest College's 41 points. MWC champion Grinnell College totaled 86 points, while runner-up (determined by team tournament finish) Lawrence University had 43 points. Monmouth College was third with 59 points, and Carroll University was fourth with 49 points.

Travis Buechel and Nate Gosz reached the finals of the No. 3 doubles flight, where they fell 6-3, 6-4 to Grinnell's Benjamin Charney and Aaron Lapkin. The duo topped Lawrence's Brian DeCorte and Craig Sherwood in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 semifinal thriller.

Tim Hartwick and Nick Acosta reached the semifinals of the No. 1 doubles flight, falling 6-1, 6-3 to John Adams and Mike Riley.

Three singles players reached the championship semifinals. Matt Lobeck fell 6-2, 6-1 to Grinnell's Emilio Gomez at No. 2. Buechel reached the semifinals of the No. 4 flight but dropped a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 match to Grinnell's C.J. Ray. Josh Sweere was the Green Knights' other semifinalist, losing 6-3, 6-4 to Grinnell's Tracy Johnson at No. 5.

Hartwick claimed the consolation championship at No. 1 singles by default over Knox's Karl Ruzgas. Gosz won the No. 6 singles flight consolation title with a 9-8 (7-5) win over Cornell College's Tyler Shonkwiler.

Lobeck and Casey Brice reached the consolation final at No. 2 doubles but lost 8-1 to Knox College's David Ham and Jonathan Ng.