The Forester men's tennis team blanked Cornell College 9-0 before falling 6-3 to Grinnell College at the Racquet Club of Lake Bluff on Saturday. Lake Forest freshman Dan Pivonka posted three victories on the day, including one over the 19th-ranked player in the region.
Pivonka and junior John Snider started their day with an 8-2 win over the top doubles team from Cornell. Junior Mike Riley and sophomore Dragan Trivanovic prevailed 8-1 at #2 while sophomore Ellis Lora-Arceo and freshman Nick Rehm won by the same score at #3.
Riley was the first to finish in singles, posting a 6-1, 6-2 victory at #4. The Foresters then clinched the win when Rehm finished his match at #5 without dropping a game. Pivonka prevailed 6-3, 6-0 at the #1 spot in the lineup and Lora-Arceo took both sets 6-2 at #2. Trivanovic recorded a 6-2, 6-0 triumph at #6 and Snider closed out the contest with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at #3.
The loss dropped Cornell's overall record to 5-9 and it was also the first conference match of the year for the Rams.
Lake Forest defeated Grinnell, the 17th-ranked team in the region, in 21 of 41 games in doubles but came out on top in just one of the matches, an 8-3 victory by Lora-Arceo and Rehm at #3.
The Pioneers won at the bottom three positions in the lineup to clinch the team win but Snider took his match at #3 by winning the third set tiebreaker 10-8. Pivonka then completed a 6-4, 6-2 triumph at #1 over the Central Region's 19th-ranked player and raised his singles record in the last 12 matches to 9-3.
The split of Saturday's matches leaves the Foresters with a 7-9 overall record this season. Grinnell, who also won at Carroll University earlier in the day, is now 18-9.
Lake Forest will continue league play at Carroll Wednesday afternoon at 3:30.