Whitewater, Wis. -- In their second match of the 2021-22 season and first action of the calendar year, the Wheaton men's tennis team faced a strong Wisconsin-Whitewater squad on Friday evening and fell to a 7-2 defeat. The Thunder's two points came courtesy of wins in the #3 doubles and #6 singles positions.

Buoyed by their nationally ranked team members, the Warhawks won the first two doubles clashes in straightforward fashion. But the second-time pairing of Tim Steiner and Jack Wenzel staved off a clean sweep for the home side by defeating their Whitewater counterparts, 8-7 (7-5), in a dramatic tiebreaker. As a result, the hosts led 2-1 heading into the singles portion of the competition.

While Wheaton's doubles victors were unable to repeat the trick this time around, teammate Joey Geisz emerged victorious in a tiebreaker of his own. The sophomore from Colorado Springs shook off his first set defeat to take the second frame by a score of 6-3. In the decisive, first-to-ten tiebreak, Geisz outfought his opponent to claim the point by a 10-5 decision. Fellow sophomore Jack Booker nearly won his #3 singles match in the same fashion, taking the first set 6-4, but eventually fell 10-8 in a nail-biting tiebreaker after two sets.

The Thunder will remain in Whitewater on Saturday to take on Luther College and Grinnell College in a pair of nonconference neutral site contests.