Hanover Park, Ill. -- Six days after its last nonconference test at Centre Court, the Wheaton men's tennis team returned to its de facto indoor home facility on Friday evening to welcome Division II opponent, Roosevelt University. The visiting Lakers won the match by a score of 5-2 in just the second-ever meeting between the programs and their first since 2019. Today's contest marked the last home event for Wheaton for three weeks, as the Thunder prepare for their annual Spring Break trip to Florida next weekend.

The doubles section of this evening's match was highly competitive, as all three fixtures were decided by a margin of less than three games and two of the contests required a tiebreaker. Roosevelt's duo claimed a hard-fought win at #1 doubles via an 8-6 tiebreak, before David Hill and Andrew Jang returned the favor in their #2 doubles battle by winning 7-6 [11-9] in a razor-thin decision. But the visitors earned the team point from doubles play with another close victory in the third matchup in a 7-5 result.

Tim Steiner made quick work of his #1 singles rival on Friday, posting a straight-set 6-1, 6-2 victory. But the Lakers secured the match win thanks to two-set outcomes in their favor at #2, #5, and #6 singles. The #3 and #4 singles showdowns were more competitive and needed to be settled via tiebreak. Jang won the first frame of his contest in the four spot but was eventually topped in a 10-6 tiebreaker, while Evan Walther shook off a 1-6 second-set setback and ground out an 11-9 tiebreak win in his #3 singles match to give the Thunder their second point of the night.

The Wheaton squad can now look forward to warmer weather and multiple matches in a short span of time as it gets ready to travel down to Orlando next weekend. The Thunder are scheduled to face four different opponents on four-consecutive days on their Spring Break trip, beginning with a contest against Oglethorpe University on Monday, March 10th at the Fort Gatlin Tennis Center.