It came down to a third set victory at the top of of the singles lineup as the Lake Forest College men's tennis team came out on top of a 5-4 decision against Illinois Institute of Technology on Sunday.
The Foresters took two of the three doubles matches but needed tiebreakers in both cases. Junior Jacob Tilton and sophomore Eduardo Manuitt prevailed 8-7 (7-1) at #3 and, after Illinois Tech earned the point at #2, junior Oleksyi Vyshyvanyuk and freshman Daniel Tulchinskiy eked out an 8-7 (7-4) triumph at #1.
The Scarlet Hawks won another point at #4 singles but Lake Forest regained the lead when freshman Kyle Lassen took both sets 6-2 at #6. The teams continued to alternate points with Illinois Tech winning at #2, Tulchinskyi posting a 6-3, 6-4 victory at #3, and the Hawks tying the team score at four with a point at #5.
That left Vyshyvanyuk and his counterpart at #1 to decide the match and the Forester edged him out 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.
Lake Forest improved to 2-1 on the season while Illinois Tech fell to 1-3.
The Foresters will play their first home match of the spring against the University of St. Francis next Sunday. The contest will take place at the Racquet Club of Lake Bluff and is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.