Thad Dillow at CCIW Tournament April 2024

Nicole Babler

Men’s Tennis Completes CCIW Fall Invitational

Titans turn heads to dual against Wartburg Sunday, Sept. 15

9/8/2024 7:46:00 PM

KENOSHA, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's tennis team began its 2024-25 season by playing in the two day College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Invitational Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8.

Playing in singles flight two, junior Ben Vigneri (Casper, Wyo.-Phillips Exeter Academy) responded after dropping his opening match to Carthage's Luca Okino 6-3, 6-2, with a win over Theodor Wolf of Millikin University. Vigneri took the sets to advance to the fifth place match 6-3, 6-4. The Casper, Wyo. native was upended by Ryan LaBelle of Carroll University, 6-4, 6-2, to close out the flight with a sixth place finish.

Senior Zeke Cross (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) cracked open the singles flight five by taking down Felix Persson from Carroll, winning with set scores of 7-5, 6-4. Cross fell to the Firebirds' Chris Mitev 6-2, 6-2 to move to the third place match.

Representing IWU in the singles flight six bracket, sophomore Chase Tomecki (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South) and junior Griffin Hammond (Metamora, Ill.-Metamora Township) each opened the bracket with a win. Tomecki defeated Elmhurst University's Adrian Songco, winning his sets 7-5, 6-2. Hammond claimed both his sets 6-0 to upend Max Macke from Millikin. Both dropped their second matchups, putting the two Titans to face off in the third place contest.

Also playing in the third place match, junior Sebastian Rasquin (Park Ridge, Ill.-Maine South) began the singles flight seven with a dominant win over MU's Jacob Bloom, winning both of his sets 6-0. Rasquin narrowly fell to Carthage's Aiden Friedman in the semifinal matchup, dropping the first set 7-6(4), before sneaking a win in the second 7-6(3), but dropped the final tiebreaker 10-5. Rasquin faced Paolo Tonelli from Millikin in the third place contest.

Junior Ian Turnbull (Bloomington, Ill.-Bloomington) and sophomore Thad Dillow (Effingham, Ill.-Effingham) each notched seventh place finishes in the singles flight one and flight three, respectively. After dropping the first two bouts, Turnbull downed CU's Daniel Ezcurra, winning both sets 6-3, while Dillow defeated Russell Reyes of Elmhurst 6-4, 6-3.

Vigneri and Turnbull paired up in the top doubles flight, taking their opening match 8-5 over Carroll's Adrian Gomez and Ezcurra. The duo faced a Firebirds pair in the second round, Francisco Silveira and Cyriac Cayuela, falling 8-2, but responded in the third place match. The pair defeated Millikin's Wolf and Cole Phillips 8-6.

The Green and White had Cross and Dillow in doubles flight two. The pair opened the flight against Ignacio Hernandez Ruiz and Matt Crossland from North Central College, falling 8-5, before dropping its second match to Millikin's Clayton Maack and Matthew Kordesh, 8-5. The duo responded with a win over EU's Muhammad Salmon and Cory Freed, winning the seventh place draw 8-3.

In doubles flight three, Tomecki and Hammond paired up, defeating CC's Ruairi Gilbert and James Schweitzer 8-4 in the opener. Facing a duo from Carroll in the next round, Illinois Wesleyan dropped the contest, 8-1, to Jack McCaffery and Mark Trinka. Tomecki and Hammond claimed a fourth place finish after falling to Christ Mitev and Miles Whelan 8-1.

Intermixing with Elmhurst, Rasquin played alongside Pranit Shah in the fourth flight of doubles. The two faced Bloom and Macke from Millikin and claimed an 8-4 victory to advance to the championship match. Carthage's Aiden Friedman and David McCormick claimed the crown with an 8-3 win, ending Rasquin and Shah's partnership.

Illinois Wesleyan returns to action Sunday, Sept. 15, as the Titans will face Wartburg in a neutral site dual match. Information regarding the contest will be updated on iwusports.com upon notice.

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