Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. (Mar. 5, 2021) – Squaring off with its toughest opponent of the season thus far, the North Central College men's tennis team dropped a 7-0 match to NCAA Division I opponent Chicago State University on Friday inside Park Forest Tennis & Health Club.
 
Playing by division I rules, Chicago State swept all three doubles positions to take the one team point for doubles play, as Guillermo Gonzalez Fernandez and Andy Hinch fought hard at the No. 1 spot but fell just short 6-4 to Pedja Kolaric and Jakub Zamorski.
 
In singles play, the Cougars won five of the six matches in straight sets but the Cardinals proved they could compete as Ramon Vilarroig Martinez took Zamorski to the third-set tiebreaker at the No. 3 position but could not pull off the upset, falling 3-6, 6-3, 2-10.
 
Javier Suarez Balsera and Steven Mears also kept stride in their matches early on, as Mears narrowly dropped the first set to Max Sandoval, 7-6 at No. 6, while Suarez Balsera nearly forced a third-set tiebreaker with Javier Sanchez at the No. 1 position.
 
With two weeks until their next match, the Cardinals (4-1) return to play on Saturday, Mar. 20 against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  Matches are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. inside Five Star Tennis in Plainfield, Ill.