The Lake Forest College men's tennis team ranks fifth with 26 points after Saturday's singles tournaments at the Midwest Conference Championships in Madison, Wisconsin. Senior John Adams staked his claim as the best player in the conference by capturing the title at #1 singles.
Adams defeated the top player from Knox College 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and the best from Lawrence University 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals. His only loss to a conference opponent this season occurred during the Foresters' match against Carroll University and he avenged that defeat with a 5-7, 6-0, 7-5 come-from-behind victory in the championship match.
The #3 singles champion in 2010 and winner at #2 singles in 2011, Adams became just the third player in conference history to claim titles at three different positions in the singles lineup. He is also the first Lake Forest player since Ted Broecker in 1950 to win three conference championships in singles. His second victory of the day was also the 129th of his career in singles and doubles combined, making him the winningest player in program history.
Lake Forest also had a finalist at #6 singles, where freshman John Snider posted a 6-0, 6-2 victory against a Ripon College player in the quarterfinals and a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 triumph over his Carroll counterpart, who defeated him earlier in the season, in the semifinals. Grinnell's #6 player pulled out a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the championship match.
Junior Jerry Wang earned three points for the team with three victories to claim the consolation title at #5 and sophomore Anthony Mykhaylovskyy added a couple of points with a win in the consolation semifinals at #3.
Adams and freshman Mike Riley will take on the top tandem from league champion Grinnell College on Sunday in the quarterfinals at #1 doubles. Mykhaylovskyy and Snider will begin with a first round match against Ripon College at #2 while Wang and senior Kevin Lasky will open against Illinois College in the opening round at #3.
Grinnell, which claimed the conference title with a 5-0 victory over Lawrence during Friday's team tournament, leads the conference with 60 points, twice the total posted by second-place Lawrence. Monmouth College is in third place with 36 points and Carroll is fourth with 31. Lake Forest's 26 is just one more than St. Norbert College's tally and six ahead of seventh-place Cornell College.
