Rock Island, Ill. - The Thunder men's tennis team picked up a key regional win on Saturday with a 5-4 victory against Luther College (5-1). Wheaton, now 2-0 on the season, will return to action on on Feb. 21 at #24-ranked UW-Whitewater.

Saturday's win against the Norse began with wins for Wheaton at number-one doubles for Ryan Kreis and Josh Ward and the number-two doubles pairing of Justin Ancona and Matt Steiner. Kreis was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory at number-one singles against regionally-ranked Ramesh Karki of Luther. Ancona earned a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win at number-two singles and Wheaton's third singles win of the day was a 6-4, 6-4 victory for Josh Ward  at number-four singles.


WHEATON COLLEGE 5, LUTHER COLLEGE 4

Singles competition
1. Kreis, Ryan (WHEATON) def. Ramesh Karki (LUTM) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Ancona, Justin (WHEATON) def. Torstein Jystad (LUTM) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
3. Kyle Appel (LUTM) def. Steiner, Matt (WHEATON) 6-3, 6-3
4. Ward, Josh (WHEATON) def. Matt Bellio (LUTM) 6-4, 6-4
5. James Ayer (LUTM) def. Buursma, David (WHEATON) 6-4, 6-4
6. Isaiah Mayerchak (LUTM) def. Mumaw, Derek (WHEATON) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6

Doubles competition
1. Kreis, Ryan/Ward, Josh (WHEATON) def. Quinn Foley/James Ayer (LUTM) 8-4
2. Ancona, Justin/Steiner, Matt (WHEATON) def. Kyle Appel/Ramesh Karki (LUTM) 8-5
3. Torstein Jystad/Isaiah Mayerchak (LUTM) def. Buursma, David/Mumaw, Derek (WHEATON) 9-7