McLean County Times

KENOSHA, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's tennis team began its 2024-25 season by participating in the two-day College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8.

Competing in singles flight two, junior Ben Vigneri (Casper, Wyo.-Phillips Exeter Academy) rebounded after losing his opening match to Carthage's Luca Okino 6-3, 6-2, with a win over Theodor Wolf of Millikin University. Vigneri advanced to the fifth-place match with set scores of 6-3, 6-4 but was ultimately defeated by Ryan LaBelle of Carroll University, finishing sixth in the flight.

Senior Zeke Cross (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) opened singles flight five by defeating Felix Persson from Carroll with set scores of 7-5, 6-4. Cross then lost to Chris Mitev from Carthage 6-2, 6-2 and moved to the third-place match.

In singles flight six, sophomore Chase Tomecki (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South) and junior Griffin Hammond (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) both won their initial matches. Tomecki defeated Elmhurst University's Adrian Songco with set scores of 7-5, 6-2 while Hammond won both sets 6-0 against Max Macke from Millikin. Both players lost their second matches and faced each other in the third-place contest.

Junior Sebastian Rasquin (Park Ridge, Ill.-Maine South), also playing for third place in singles flight seven, began with a dominant win over MU's Jacob Bloom by winning both sets 6-0. Rasquin narrowly lost to Carthage's Aiden Friedman in the semifinal matchup after splitting sets and dropping the final tiebreaker. He faced Paolo Tonelli from Millikin for third place.

Junior Ian Turnbull (Bloomington, Ill.-Bloomington) and sophomore Thad Dillow (Effingham, Ill.-Effingham) each secured seventh place finishes in singles flights one and three respectively. Turnbull defeated CU's Daniel Ezcurra after losing his first two bouts while Dillow overcame Russell Reyes of Elmhurst with set scores of 6-4, 6-3.

In doubles competition, Vigneri and Turnbull paired up in the top doubles flight to defeat Carroll's Adrian Gomez and Ezcurra in their opening match before falling to a Firebirds pair but securing third place against Millikin’s Wolf and Cole Phillips.

Cross and Dillow competed in doubles flight two but fell short against North Central College’s Ignacio Hernandez Ruiz and Matt Crossland as well as Millikin’s Clayton Maack and Matthew Kordesh before winning against EU’s Muhammad Salmon and Cory Freed for seventh place.

Tomecki and Hammond teamed up for doubles flight three where they initially triumphed over CC’s Ruairi Gilbert and James Schweitzer but later lost to Carroll’s Jack McCaffery and Mark Trinka followed by another loss that resulted in a fourth-place finish.

Rasquin partnered with Pranit Shah from Elmhurst for doubles flight four where they claimed victory over Millikin’s Bloom and Macke before losing to Carthage’s Aiden Friedman and David McCormick in the championship match.

Illinois Wesleyan will return to action on Sunday, Sept. 15 for a neutral site dual match against Wartburg. Updates regarding this contest will be available on iwusports.com upon notice.

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