FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Trine University men's tennis team tallied a pair of wins on a day of competition at Franklin College. The team began the day by defeating their hosts 8-1 before doubling up with a win over fellow visitors from Webster University 7-2.
The day began with the team's contest against the Grizzlies and the Thunder took two of three doubles matches to earn an early lead. The No. 1 team of sophomore Cole Goodman and senior Drew Dixon secured the most comfortable win by the score of 8-4. The other win came in a closer No. 2 match where senior Aaron Streit and junior Ryan Smith came up with an 8-6 score.
Trine pulled away in the singles portion of the contest, with Trine sweeping all six matches. Goodman in the No. 1 match (6-1, 6-0) and classmate Caleb Morris in the No. 5 match (6-0, 6-1) each picked up lopsided victories, each dropping just one game. Smith also secured a comfortable win, taking the No. 6 match with scores of 6-2, 6-4.
The other three singles matches were much more contested. Streit in the No. 3 match held off in a tough first set to win the match 7-5, 6-1. Dixon needed a third tiebreaker to win his No. 4 match with scores of 6-0, 5-7, 10-5. Finally, freshman Elijah Schilthuis won the longest first set of the night in a tiebreaker before recording a more comfortable second, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.
The second contest of the day came against Webster University on the neutral courts. This time the Thunder swept the doubles portion of the contest to build an early lead. It was a close thing for the team of Goodman and Dixon this time as they needed a tiebreaker to take the No. 1 match 8-7 (9-7). The other two pairs for the Thunder won their matches 8-3.
The team finished off the day by winning four of the singles matches against the Gorloks. Goodman won a marathon of a No. 1 match with scores of 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Both Schilthuis in the No. 2 match and Smith in the No. 6 match would win 6-2, 6-3. Dixon recorded the final win with a 6-1, 6-2 win in the No. 4 match.
Trine improves to 3-0 after the two-win day. They will continue their season when they travel to the Hope College Invite beginning on Friday, Sept. 16.