Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder men's tennis team competed against North Central (6-5, 2-1 CCIW) on Tuesday afternoon in a key CCIW match. Today's match was originally scheduled to be played in Naperville, but was moved to the Wheaton campus due to facility issues at North Central's tennis courts. Wheaton is now 4-2 on the season and improves to 2-0 in CCIW play. 

North Central jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match score as the Cardinals won all three doubles matches. 

Joey Geisz gave Wheaton its first win with a 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles against Morgan Red of North Central. Cody Ching cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Guillermo Gonzalez at No. 2 singles. North Central picked up a victory at No. 3 singles to increase its lead to 4-2. It was the final North Central win of the night.  

Anderson Park earned a 6-4, 6-1 win to trim the Cardinals' advantage to 4-3. Graham Shelton rallied for a win at No. 6 singles to tie the match score at 4-4. Shelton defeated Steven Mears 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 to set up a decisive final match at No. 5 singles.

North Central's Morgan Red won the first set at No. 5 singles against Thunder senior Alex Winters. Winters won the second set 6-2 to set up a dramatic third set to determine the winning team. Red gained a 5-2 lead in the set, needing just one game to reach six for the victory. Winters rallied by winning the next five games to earn the dramatic 7-5 victory and securing the 5-4 win for the Thunder.

Today's match was the first of four this week for the Thunder. Wheaton hosts Carthage on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. for a conference match against the Firebirds. The Thunder will entertain Millikin on Friday at 4:00 p.m. Illinois Wesleyan visits Wheaton on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.