Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu

ORLANDO, Ill. (March 11, 2026) – In a rare slow day of athletics during spring break, the North Central College men's tennis program took center stage as the lone athletic event in the department on Wednesday, taking on No. 3 Case Western Reserve University in an exhibition match in which team records were unaffected, but individual results were taken for regional and national rankings.

Case Western won each of the nine matches, but many Cardinals battled in tight matches against members of the number three team in the nation.

Coach Joey Leto placed Henry Ros and Andres Valverde Gonzalez into the top doubles slot for the second time in three matches. The duo fell 6-2.

Rafael Lessa and Philipp Wottgen dropped their contest by the slimmest of margins, losing 7-6 and dropping the tiebreaking game 7-5 and David Vilarroig Martinez and Matt Crossland lost their match 6-4.

Wottgen played in another neck-and-neck match in singles. He fell in the first set 7-5, but came back to take the second set 6-3. JT Bilski, Wottgen's opponent from Case Western, took the third set, winning the race to ten 10-3. Wottgen's second set victory was the lone set win for North Central in the match.

Ros' match was also a close one. He dropped the opening frame 6-2, and traded blows to a 6-6 tie in the second set, forcing a tiebreaking game. Rohit Jain won the tiebreaker 7-2 to win the set 7-6.

Valverde Gonzalez fell 6-1, 6-4 in his contest, while Lessa dropped his match in straight sets 7-6 (9-7), 6-1, Ignacio Hernandez Ruiz was defeated 6-1, 6-1 and Jack Briggs suffered a 6-2, 6-1 defeat.

The Cardinals have nine days to recuperate before taking on Judson March 20 in their first home match of the season.