Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
HOMEWOOD, Ill. (Feb. 7, 2026) – The North Central men's tennis program began its 2026 dual schedule with a match against the University of Chicago, which entered the spring portion of the schedule ranked as the No. 2 program in Division III. The Maroons took the match 7-0, improving to 10-0 all-time against North Central.
Chicago (1-1) swept the singles matches. Phillip Wottgen fell to Michael Choi (6-2, 6-1), Henry Ros fell 6-0, 6-3 to Emil Grantcharov and Rafael Lessa fell in straight sets to Matthew Liew.
Ignacio Hernandez Ruiz lost his singles match 6-4, 6-2, while Jack Briggs fell 6-2, 6-2.
The lone set win in the singles matches came from Andres Valverde Gonzalez, who defeated Robert Zhang 6-2 in the opening set of their match. The second set went wire to wire, with Zhang claiming the win in a tie-breaking 12th game 7-5, forcing a match tiebreaker to 10, one that Zhang claimed 10-7 to win the match.
The Cardinals were in contention for the doubles point. The first duo to take to court for North Central was Hernandez Ruiz and Valverde Gonzalez, who fell in their set 6-1.
The second doubles match featured Lessa and Wottgen up against Chicago's Choi and Emil Grantcharov. Lessa and Wottgen, playing as the top double pair, fought their way to a huge 6-4 set victory, leaving the doubles point up for grabs in the final doubles match between North Central's Briggs and David Vilarroig Martinez and Chicago's Emil Grantcharov and Timothy Nguyen.
Grantcharov and Nguyen appeared to have the set in the bag, as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Briggs and Vilarroig Martiniez never blinked, fighting their way back to tie it at 6 all, forcing a playoff. Despite their comeback efforts, Briggs and Vilarroig Martinez fell short in the tiebreaker 7-1, giving Chicago the doubles point.
North Central is right back to work tomorrow as it takes on Lake Forest College at the Racquet Club of Lake Bluff at 12:45 p.m. as an appetizer for tomorrow night's big game.
