Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (March 20, 2026) - After 11 matches on the road and on neutral sites, the North Central College men's tennis team finally hosted a match on Friday night, defeating NAIA opponent Judson University 5-2 at Naperville Tennis Club in the Cardinals' last tune-up before the start of the conference season on Saturday.
Coach Joey Leto and the Cardinals have won four of their last five duals, getting them back to .500 after a 2-5 start to the campaign.
The string of success in doubles came to an end on Thursday as Judson (6-11) claimed the doubles point by winning the top two pairings. The Cardinals avoided a sweep thanks to a wire-to-wire battle in the third pairing in which Matt Crossland and David Vilaroig Martinez needed a tiebreaking game to settle the match. Crossland and Vilaroig Martinez took the tiebreaker 8-6 to win the match 7-6, avoiding the sweep in doubles.
North Central (6-6) dominated in singles, going 5-1 in the six matches to clinch the dual win.
Paul Wotgen set the tone with a straight sets victory (6-4, 6-4) to improve to 4-7 at the top spot of the lineup card. Henry Ros followed that up in the two spot with a 6-3, 6-2 win to improve to 9-9 on the season.
Andres Valverde Gonzalez continued the singles success with a dominant showing in match, winning 6-1, 6-1. Valverde Gonzalez, who is 10-7 in singles this season, improved to 5-2 when playing in the third singles pairing.
With the Cardinals up 3-1, attention turned to Vilarroig Martinez in the sixth singles contest, playing with the opportunity to clinch the dual for North Central. The junior out of Spain delivered, winning a three-set thriller.
He took the opening set 6-4, but fell in a pair of extra games in the second set 7-5, setting up a dramatic tiebreaking third set. Vilarroig pulled away late to win the race to 10, taking the tiebreaker 10-6.
Upon hitting the dual clinching shot, the Cardinal roster mobbed him in celebration as he let out a roar in celebration that sent his hat flying, putting the perfect exclamation point on the Cardinals' sixth victory of the season.
Ignacio Hernandez Ruiz added the fifth point for the Cardinals, winning 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
North Central has a quick turnaround, taking on Carthage College in the opening match of the CCIW slate at 5 p.m. The dual is sure to be full of fireworks, as Carthage and North Central are among the favorites to compete for a conference title this Spring.
