Waukesha, Wis. -- The 2024 CCIW Men's Tennis Tournament began this morning, and Wheaton entered this year's competition as the fourth seed after matching Augustana College and Carroll University on a 4-3 record in the regular season slate. The Thunder were paired up against the hosting Pioneers as the #5 seed in the tournament, and Wheaton secured a smooth 5-1 win over Carroll in their quarterfinal matchup to book a place in Friday's semifinal round. Today's victory gave the Thunder their 15th win of the year.

Wheaton edged Carroll by a narrow 5-4 margin in their regular season contest in Waukesha three weeks ago, but the visitors found it easier against the tournament hosts on this occasion. The Pioneers captured the #1 doubles match this morning, but Wheaton answered back with an 8-3 win of its own at the third position thanks to Andrew Jang and Tim Steiner. Joey Geisz and Jacob Williams then combined to pull out a hard-fought 8-6 result at #2 doubles to continue their impressive season and give the Thunder an important lead heading into the singles fixtures.

Wheaton dominated the singles competitions on Thursday, winning all three contests that it needed for a match decision before Carroll had a chance to cut into its deficit. Geisz doubled up for the day by earning a straight-set 6-2, 6-4 victory in his #3 singles matchup, before Evan Walther collected a similarly straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win at #5 singles to put the Thunder on the brink. The senior Cody Ching served as match-winner by taking his #4 singles fixture at 6-3, 7-5 to give Wheaton its decisive fifth point and bring the quarterfinal to an early end.

After an impressive start to the postseason, the Thunder are likely in for a tougher battle in Friday's semifinal. Wheaton will play the top-seeded North Central Cardinals, and NCC is coming into the contest riding an eight-match win streak against CCIW opposition. The two sides are set to meet at 10 AM tomorrow, and the winner will punch a ticket to Saturday's CCIW Championship match.