Senior Matt Kacyn was 4-0 at the top of the singles and doubles lineups as Lake Forest prevailed 6-3 at St. Norbert College and 9-0 at Ripon College on Saturday.
Kacyn and sophomore Brant Christensen started their day by edging out the #1 doubles team from St. Norbert 8-6 to give the visitors a 2-1 lead going into singles. The Green Knights had earned the point at #3 before Forester sophomore Aidan Burke and junior Chase Garber finished doubling up their counterparts 8-4 at #2.
The first four singles matches to finish went to Lake Forest, beginning with a 6-1, 6-3 victory by Burke at #2 and a 6-2, 6-0 win by Kacyn at #1. Christensen matched Burke's score at #5 to clinch the match for the Foresters and senior Joe Bove came out on top of a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 decision at #3.
The Foresters used the same doubles lineup at Ripon and prevailed 8-4 at #1 and 8-3 at #2. Bove and freshman Carson Chen evened their record on the day with an 8-4 win at #3.
Bove and Garber dropped just one game apiece at #2 and #4 singles, respectively, and Bove took both sets 6-1 at #3, as did freshman Matthew Pawlowski at #6. Christensen won both sets 6-2 in his match at #5 and, after falling 6-2 in the first set, Kacyn won the second 7-5 and the third set super-tiebreaker 10-4.
Lake Forest improved to 11-8 overall and 6-1 in Midwest Conference play this season. St. Norbert fell to 6-11 overall and 3-4 in the league while Ripon's overall record dropped to 2-9 with losses in six of seven conference contests.
The Foresters can secure the #2 seed in the four-team MWC Tournament on April 27 with a victory over visiting Lawrence University on Sunday. Due to the weather forecast, the has been moved indoors to LifeSport Athletic Club in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and will begin at noon.
