Orlando, Fla. -- Coming off of a 15-day break from competition after its February 28 match at St. Francis was canceled, the Thunder men's tennis team opened its annual Spring Break slate in Florida with a first-ever meeting against Dickinson College this evening. After facing Illinois Valley Community College in an exhibition match with no official scoring on Monday afternoon, Wheaton rolled past the Pennsylvania program tonight by a score of 6-1 to snap a four-match skid and earn its second victory of the year.
The Red Devils claimed a 6-4 win at #2 doubles in this evening's contest, but this result did not count for much, as the Thunder were victorious at the first and third doubles positions.
Andrew Jang and
Andrew Winters logged a lopsided 6-1 win at #1 before
Joshua Hartman and
Ryder Ward combined for a 6-3 outcome in the #3 matchup to clinch the first point for Wheaton.
The Thunder nearly swept Monday's singles fixtures to claim their second 7-0 win of the season, but Dickinson picked up a tiebreaker victory to avoid getting shut out completely. Ward doubled up in the win column by making fast work of his #5 singles opponent with a pair of 6-2 sets, and Winters joined him on two straight-set victories with a 6-2, 6-3 result at #3 singles. Jang then sealed the match win for Wheaton with a 6-2, 7-5 victory at the second spot.
The Thunder's singles lineup was bookended by hard-fought tiebreak wins, as
Corin Tang and Hartman registered extended victories in their #1 and #6 solo matches, respectively. Tang took the first set of his contest, 7-6, via a 7-4 tiebreak and eventually logged a 10-6 third set tiebreak to claim Wheaton's fifth point on the night. Hartman posted the exact same score in the first frame of his matchup and overcame a second set tiebreak defeat to tally a dramatic 11-9 victory in the necessary third game.
After a positive start to Spring Break, Wheaton will look to make it two match wins in as many days when the team heads to Cocoa Beach, Florida on Tuesday for a contest against Ohio Northern University. Tomorrow's matchup between the Thunder and the Polar Bears is scheduled to begin at 12:30 PM local time.
