Lake Geneva, Wis. -- In this evening's match against the Grinnell Pioneers, Wheaton put in their strongest performance of the season thus far. The Thunder topped their Iowa-based opponents, 6-3, and boosted their overall record to an even .500 as a result. The usual suspects were at it again for Wheaton, with
Jacob Williams,
Joey Geisz,
Tim Steiner, and
Jack Wenzel all securing doubles and singles victories to help the Thunder claim their second team win of the young campaign.
Williams had perhaps the most impressive individual showing in this contest, as the freshman partnered with Geisz to win their #1 Doubles match, 8-4, before cruising past his Grinnell counterpart in their #2 Singles test with a first set bagel and a 6-3 win in the second. Geisz finished the weekend unbeaten in singles play, winning his #5 pairing in convincing fashion by taking each set at a 6-3 tilt.
Steiner and Wenzel had a slightly tougher time in their doubles match, outlasting their #2 slot opponents at a tight 8-6 margin. Wenzel dropped the first frame of his #3 singles match, 7-5, but fought back to win the second, 6-3. In the ensuing ten-point tiebreaker, the junior trumped his rival, 10-7, in an impressive display of persistence. Steiner did likewise, falling in the first set of his #4 pairing by a 6-2 result only to recover and win the next frame, 6-4. Growing in confidence as the match entered the tiebreak, Steiner overwhelmed his Pioneer opponent, 10-6, to take the point.
Wheaton can take heart from a successful weekend in Wisconsin. From some impressive individual performances against an elite UW-Whitewater squad on Friday to earning back-to-back team wins on Saturday, the 2022 spring season is off to a bright start for the Thunder.
The team will be in action again next Saturday when they travel to Joliet, Illinois to face University of St. Francis in another nonconference meeting.
In the first match of the day, Wheaton picked up their first win of the 2021-22 campaign on Saturday morning, as the Thunder edged the Luther Norse by a total score of 5-4.
Joey Geisz and
Jacob Williams led the way for Wheaton, winning their #2 Doubles pairing, as well as taking both of their singles matches.
The aforementioned pair cruised through their doubles matchup to claim victory by a comprehensive 8-1 margin. Fellow Wheaton teammates Tim Steiner and Jack Wenzel won their #3 Doubles arrangement, 8-4, to improve to 3-0 on the season as a paired combination.
Jacob Williams earned his first collegiate singles victory on Saturday, taking his #2 match in a clean sweep with set scores of 6-1 and 6-2. Luther won three of the first four matchups in singles to claim a 4-3 lead, but the Thunder stormed back to win thanks to Tim Steiner and Joey Geisz. Steiner, a freshman from Fort Wayne, Indiana, won his #5 Singles match, 6-4, 6-2, before the sophomore Geisz dominated his #6 clash, sweeping his Norse opponent aside, 6-0, 6-3.
Jack Booker and Jack Wenzel both dropped their singles matches in ten-point tiebreaker games after splitting two sets with their Luther opponents. Just as it happened in yesterday's meeting with UW-Whitewater, Booker won the first set of his #3 singles contest but was ultimately defeated in the extra game, losing this one 11-9. Wenzel fell 10-7, but did well to force the tiebreak after losing the first set of his #4 singles clash.
With this hard-fought win, Wheaton improved to 1-2 on the year. But the team did not have much time to celebrate, as another match quickly followed to close out their weekend of nonconference action, this time seeing the Thunder face off against Grinnell College.
