Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder men's tennis team (14-8) lost a hard-fought 5-3 matchup with top-seeded Carthage College (21-6) on Saturday in the first-place match of the 2016 CCIW Men's Tennis Championship. Carthage earns the CCIW Championship and the conference's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Team Championships.

Carthage emerged the doubles matches with a 2-1 lead over the Thunder. Justin Ancona and Matt Steiner earned Wheaton's point in doubles action as the pair picked up an 8-4 win at number-one doubles against Carthage's Pawel Jaworski and Chris Conley.

Ancona earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory at number-one singles over Carthage's Alex Boomgarden. Josh Cheng earned a 6-2, 6-2 win at number-five singles against Lukasz Jaworski to give Wheaton a 3-2 edge in the team scoring.

Carthage evened the match at 3-3 with a victory at number-six singles and the Red Men pulled within one match of earning the team victory in a win at number-two singles. Carthage secured the tournament title with a victory at number-four singles.

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CARTHAGE 5, WHEATON 3

Singles competition
1. Ancona, Justin (WHEATON) def. Boomgarden, Alex (CARTHAGE) 6-1, 6-1
2. Jump, Ryan (CARTHAGE) def. Paulsen, Dane (WHEATON) 7-5, 6-3
3. Steiner, Matt (WHEATON) vs. Jaworski, Pawel (CARTHAGE) 4-6, 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
4. Conley, Chris (CARTHAGE) def. Metz, Lincoln (WHEATON) 7-6, 6-4
5. Cheng, Josh (WHEATON) def. Jaworski, Lukasz (CARTHAGE) 6-2, 6-2
6. Ferruzzi, Alex (CARTHAGE) def. Torok, Andrew (WHEATON) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Ancona, Justin/Steiner, Matt (WHEATON) def. Jaworski, Pawel/Conley, Chris (CARTHAGE) 8-4
2. Boomgarden, Alex/Jump, Ryan (CARTHAGE) def. Paulsen, Dane/Metz, Lincoln (WHEATON) 8-3
3. Jaworski, Lukasz/Leipold, Fordy (CARTHAGE) def. Cheng, Josh/Wenzel, Karl (WHEATON) 8-5