Cleveland, Ohio. - It wasn't easy for the Illinois Tech men's tennis team.  But then again, competing in the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship isn't supposed to be easy. That was the case Friday afternoon, as the Scarlet Hawks won a hard-fought battle with Rose-Hulman 5-3 to win their opening round match of the tournament in the Case Western regional.  The Scarlet Hawks improved to 13-9 on the season. The Fightin' Engineers finish their season at 14-6.

The Scarlet Hawks advance to the second round, where they will take on #3 ranked and the reigning NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Champions, Case Western Reserve University, Saturday morning.

Doubles Play (Illinois Tech 2 - Rose-Hulman 1)
Although the Scarlet Hawks didn't get the doubles sweep they were hoping for, they were able to take two of the three matches for the all-important lead heading into singles play. The Hawks' number two team of Eduaro Lopez and Jordan Lauer got the Hawks on the board first with an 8-4 victory over Grant Paradowski and  Ervin Perkowski. Rose-Hulman would tie up the doubles match when their number three team of Owen Reynolds and Chris Lian defeated the Hawks' Nabil Fawaz and Pol Dueso Guell 8-5. That left the deciding match up to the number one doubles competition, and the Scarlet Hawks' Alann Torres and Davis Housman were able to prevail 8-5 over Elijah Hadler and Rhian Seneviratne, giving the Hawks the slim edge heading into singles play.

Singles Play (Illinois Tech 3 - Rose-Hulman 2)
With a 2-1 advantage from doubles play already in the books, the Hawks worked to build on their lead. But the Fightin' Engineers had other ideas. Rose-Hulman's Seneviratne was the first singles player to finish, defeating the Scarlet Hawks' Lopez 6-0, 6-4 to tie the match at 2-2. The Scarlet Hawks responded, however, as Torres, out of the number one singles position, defeated Hadler 6-2, 6-3 to move the Hawks back in front 3-2. Dueso Guell would extend the Hawks' lead to 4-2 with his number four singles victory over Perkowski 6-4, 6-2. But in the toughest singles match of the competition, Rose-Hulman's Paradowski defeated the Hawks' Fawaz 7-6(8-6), 6-4 in the number three singles to cut the Hawks' lead to 4-3. With only the number one and six singles matches remaining, the Hawks needed just one more win, while Rose-Hulman would have to sweep the remaining two. Lauer answered the call for the Hawks, winning his number six singles match 7-5, 6-4 for the deciding fifth match victory. Housman in the number one singles match held a 2-1 lead in his third set against Chris Lian should that match have to factor into the final decision. Housman split the first two sets 4-6, 6-1. 

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks advance to second round action in the Case Western regional of the  2024 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship, when they play the host, reigning champions and #3 ranked Spartans at 9:00 AM CT/10 AM ET on Saturday, May 11th.