KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's tennis team advanced to the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship after a 4-1 win over Northern Illinois at Sorensen Courts on WMU's campus on Saturday afternoon.
The teams traded doubles wins, with WMU's
Ferdinand Schlueter and
Brogan Pierce winning at No. 3, 6-2, over Armin Koschtojan and Kris Ortega. The Huskies countered with a win at No. 1, 6-4, by Oliver Valentinsson and Mikael Vollbach over
Peter Kuszynski and
Anton Arzhankin. The doubles point came down to
Fynn Lohse and
Joaquin Caballer for the Broncos and Mikko Malinen and Chris Knutson for NIU. WMU had a 5-4 lead but Malinen and Knutson tied it up at 5-5. Lohse and Caballer won the final two sets to give the point to Western Michigan after the 7-5 win.
Pierce gave WMU a quick 2-0 lead after a win at No. 6, 6-0, 6-3, over Luke VanDonslear. Arzhankin then made it 3-0 with a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2 over Ortega. NIU got on the board with Valentinsson defeating Kuszynski 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 to cut the lead to 3-1. Sophomore
Benjamin George clinched WMU's trip to the finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 over Malinen. Lohse and
Arjun Honnappa both had one-set leads before their matches were retired.
Western Michigan will host the winner of Toledo and Ball State on Sunday at 1 p.m. Due to possible weather issues, the location will be determined on Sunday morning.
