MARION, Ind. – Indiana Wesleyan University men’s tennis has earned the opportunity to defend the Crossroads League Tournament Championship following a 5-1 win over Huntington (Ind.) in the Semifinals. IWU won the league championship a year ago and play in the title match for the third consecutive season.
MATCH VITALS
Score: Indiana Wesleyan def. Huntington, 5-1
Records: Indiana Wesleyan 15-0 | Huntington 8-5
Tournament Seeds: Indiana Wesleyan No. 1 | Huntington No. 4
Location: Sutter Tennis Center | Indiana Wesleyan University | Marion, Indiana
DOUBLES
No. 1: Eli Steiner/Grant Esposito (IWU) def. Poncio/Rongles (HU) 8-5
No. 2: Echevarria/Turaba (HU) def. Diego Freire/Riley Worland (IWU) 9-8
No. 3: Tyler Abbott/Andrew Block (IWU) def. Martinez/Salas (HU) 8-6
SINGLES
No. 1: Eli Steiner (IWU) def. Ignacio Poncio (HU) 6-1, 6-4
No. 2: Diego Freire (IWU) vs. Illia Turaba (HU) 7-6, 3-2
No. 3: Grant Esposito (IWU) def. Mariano Echevarria (HU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 4: Riley Worland (IWU) def. Sebastian Salas (HU) 6-0, 6-2
No. 5: Tyler Abbott (IWU) vs. Giovanni Martinez (HU) 6-3, 5-5
No. 6: Andrew Block (IWU) vs. Niko Rongos (HU) 4-6, 3-5
COACH SHIGLEY SAYS…
“Great win for our men’s team tonight. Super competitive doubles, however, we were able to gain a 2-1 lead after doubles. Fantastic singles, really good tennis tonight. Eli and Riley got two quick points for us and Espo clinched the match for us. The encouraging thing is we were leading in two of the three remaining matches and were coming back in the third. Awesome team win tonight. Huntington came ready to play and battled with courage, hats off to them.”
UP NEXT FOR MEN’S TENNIS
Indiana Wesleyan hosts the Crossroads League Tournament championship on Saturday vs. No. 2 Marian (Ind.). The match begins at 4:30 p.m. at Sutter Tennis Center. Marian is 12-1 this season with their lone loss coming to Indiana Wesleyan.
