Tennis turnaround

MC 11-5 after slow start

by Sara Kisner
Courier Staff

The Monmouth College Fighting Scots tennis team had two strong team wins this past Saturday by defeating St. Ambrose University and Cornell College. MC hosted the duels and was pleased with the dominating results. The beat these two teams for the first time in MC's men's tennis history.

The men's tennis team's number one seed new comer, Brandon Stacey, and number two, Jared Kunkle, defeated SAU 9-8 and 7-4 in doubles competition. "We had good mental advantages coming into the first set of doubles verses SAU because they beat Grinnell College in doubles prior to this match," states head coach Chad Braun. Grinnell will be one of MC's toughest matches coming up.

Strong single wins against St. Ambrose came from Stacey: 6-1 and 10-6, Kunkle: 6-2 and 6-1, Matt Moser: 6-0 and 6-3, Alex Carter: 6-1 and 6-0, and Greg Bouslog: 6-2 and 6-1.

MC's main goal this year is to take their team to the team championships. Top teams from the north and south are eligible to play. "During our practices we drill every asset of the game and the players compete hard against each other to make this goal more and more attainable," says Coach Braun. By already having two players, Stacey and Kyle Korb make players of the week; MC is in very good shape to accomplish almost anything at this point.

The meet verse Cornell College was played inside due to weather conditions, but that did not stop the Scots from taking a clean sweep over the weekend. "I think we handled the change from playing outside to inside very well," states sophomore transfer Brandon Stacey. Coach Braun was again pleased with the strong solid shots in the doubles rounds which helped to seal many victories.

Double victories against Cornell were achieved by Stacey/Kunkle winning 8-2, Kevin Kamenjarin/ Korb winning 8-2, and Carter/ Moser winning 8-0. Single victories were achieved by Stacey: 6-2 and6-4, Kunkle: 6-2 and 6-2, Kamenjarin: 6-0 and 6-1, Korb: 6-0 and 6-1, Moser: 6-0 and 6-0, and Carter: 6-0 and 6-0.

The MC men's tennis team is finally at the peak of their rebuilding process. "We have already set records for the number of wins and we are aiming for 20," says Stacey. At about half way through the season, the team has achieved 11 wins. MC travels this weekend to begin their first set of conference meets at Illinois College competing against IC and St. Norberg. Come support the MC men's tennis team at home this Wednesday March 28th at 3:30p.m verse Augustana College!