Forester men's tennis played on campus for the first time in 2022 on Saturday, defeating Lawrence University 9-0. The team was back indoors at the Racquet Club of Lake Bluff later in the day but the result was the same, a 9-0 rout of Ripon College.
The victory over Lawrence clinched Lake Forest's spot in the four-team Midwest Conference Tournament, which will be played in Middleton, Wisconsin, next Friday. The Foresters have now qualified for the event each of the last seven years it has been held. They were the runners-up in five of the last six.
Senior Zach Cho and freshman Kyle Lassen turned in the most convincing victories over the Vikings. After teaming up to prevail 8-1 at #3 doubles, they did not drop a game in singles, Cho at #3 and Lassen at #6. Their matches against Ripon were only slightly closer, beginning with an 8-2 decision in doubles. Cho won 6-2, 6-3 and Lassen 6-0, 6-2 in singles.
Junior Oleksyi Vyshyvanyuk and freshman Daniel Tulchinskiy continued to roll at the top of the lineup, defeated Lawrence's top doubles team 8-2 and Ripon's 8-1. Vyshyvanyuk dropped just four games in his two #1 singles matches combined, three in the second set against Lawrence and one in the first against Ripon. Tulchinskiy was just as dominant at #2, posting a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the early match and taking both sets 6-1 later on.
At #2 doubles, junior Jacob Tilton and sophomore Eduardo Manuitt matched the scores from the Foresters' top tandem in both contests. Tilton also defeated the Vikings' #4 singles player 6-4, 6-1 before blanking his Red Hawk counterpart 6-0, 6-0. Manuitt won the first set 6-1 and the second 6-0 in the first match before reversing those set scores in the second.
Lake Forest is now 10-8 overall and 4-1 in MWC play this season. Lawrence fell to 4-14 overall and 2-4 in the league while Ripon's overall record dropped to 7-7 and league mark to 4-2.
The Foresters will host their regular season finale against Monmouth College Monday at 3:00 p.m.
