The Forester men's tennis team has the second-highest point total after Saturday's singles competition at the Midwest Conference Championships in Madison, Wisconsin. Sophomore Ryan Kreis staked his claim as the top player in the conference by winning the title at #1 singles and senior Elliot Muth also captured a championship at #3.
Kreis was seeded first at the top spot in the lineup and defeated the best singles player from Ripon College 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. He also prevailed 6-3, 6-2 against Monmouth College in the semifinals before defeating the runner-up from Carroll University 6-4, 6-2 in the final. It was the first career singles title for Kreis, who placed second at #1 last season.
Muth was the #4 seed and cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Ripon in the quarterfinals. He then upset the top seed from Grinnell College 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-0 in the semifinals before knocking off his Monmouth counterpart 6-4, 6-4 to claim his first conference title in his final collegiate singles match.
Lake Forest also had the runner-up at #2 singles, where junior John Adams fell just shy of claiming a singles championship for the third year in a row. He also drew Ripon in the quarterfinals and won 6-2, 6-0. He also prevailed 6-4, 6-3 against Carroll in the semifinals for his 100th career victory (singles and doubles combined). A hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 loss to Monmouth in the final prevented Adams from defending his title at #2 singles. He won at #3 as a freshman.
Junior Kevin Lasky blanked the Illinois College #5 player 6-0, 6-0 in round one and added a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 triumph against Knox College in the quarterfinals. That set up a tilt with the top seed from Monmouth, where Lasky dropped the first set 6-3 but won the second 7-6 (7-5). He fell 6-1 in the third, however, ending the upset bid.
Sophomore Anthony Warren and freshman Anthony Mykhaylovskyy were defeated in the quarterfinals and moved to the consolation bracket at #4 and #6, respectively. Warren won 8-1 against Illinois College in the consolation semifinals and 8-4 against St. Norbert College in the consolation final. Mykhaylovskyy posted an 8-0 victory over Ripon in the consolation semifinals but fell 8-6 to the #6 singles player from Carroll in the consolation final.
The Foresters' 44 points on Saturday are second to Monmouth, who has 54. Grinnell's 42 points rank third and Carroll is fourth with 36. The top two spots in the standings were actually decided by Friday's team tournament, where Grinnell defeated Monmouth in the final to claim the 2012 MWC championship. The best Lake Forest can finish is third, even if their point total exceeds those of Monmouth and Grinnell.
Kreis and Warren will compete at #1 in Sunday's doubles competition. Adams and Muth will team up at #2 and Lasky will partner with senior Tommy White at #3.