KOHLER – The Lakeland University men's tennis team finished its 2019 season against a pair of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference's best teams as it was defeated by Milwaukee School of Engineering and Concordia University Wisconsin Saturday at Sports Core.
The Muskies lost to both the Raiders and Falcons by 9-0 scores. Lakeland faced a tough task for its season finale, taking on the teams that finished third and second in the NACC regular season standings, respectively.
The Muskies (2-12 overall, 2-7 NACC) were unable to win a set on the day but had some success, especially against MSOE (9-9 overall, 6-2 NACC).
Nick Lange (
Jr.-Mukwonago, Wis.) extended his second set at No. 3 singles to a tiebreaker before eventually losing to Curt Norton 6-1, 7-6 (7-3).
Jacob Larson (
Fr.-Wauwatosa, Wis.) also lost two hard-fought sets, falling to Connor Splingaire at No. 4 singles 7-5, 6-4, and
Bill Behrmann (
Sr.-Long Lake, Wis.) also just missed out on winning his first set in a 7-5, 6-1 loss to Parker Kuhlman at No. 6 singles.
Seniors
Jared Nummerdor (
Waupun, Wis.) and
T.J. Corona (
Green Bay, Wis.) also were defeated in their singles matches, with Nummerdor falling to Nelson 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles and Corona defeated by Bryan Roob 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.
Lakeland's best result against Concordia (15-7 overall, 8-1 NACC) came at No. 2 doubles, where Larson and
Aaron Smith (
Fr.-Lake Geneva, Wis.) were defeated 8-3 by Gabe Binversie and Cole Werning. Lange also dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision to Logan Snyder at No. 3 singles, and Binversie defeated Larson 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.
The Muskies still finished with one of their most successful seasons in recent years. Lakeland posted multiple wins in a season and multiple conference triumphs for the first time since 2015. The two wins this year also are tied for the most for a Lakeland team in a season since 2010, when the Muskies finished 8-9 overall and 5-3 in the NACC. The team also improved its collective singles win total from eight victories last year to 21 this year, and its doubles win total from six to nine.
