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Men's tennis picks up another win

by Andy Chon

Instead of a pair of wins this past weekend, the Grinnell men's tennis team only came away with one. However, the Pioneers' perfect record is still intact.

Grinnell was scheduled to play a pair of back-to-back meets Feb. 18 against Beloit College and Wartburg College, but the meet against Beloit was canceled due to bad weather, leaving the Pioneers with only one meet on Saturday.

The Wartburg Knights were no competition for the Pioneers, who racked up another shutout victory, closing the game 7-0.

"We played really well," said Eli Best '07. "We were expecting Wartburg to be a little stronger."

No Grinnell singles players dropped more than two games in a set. Both Best and Rick Fenbert '06 lost only one game in their respective matches.

The Pioneers also had an impressive performance from the doubles teams. Freshmen Dan Lafountaine and Nate Fox took down their opponents, 8-1. The two other doubles teams that Grinnell fronted during the meet defeated their competition 8-3.

The win last weekend makes the men's tennis team's record 3-0.

Although the Knights did not leave a strong impression on the Pioneers, the meet against Wartburg provided valuable insight into Grinnell's position relative to other schools early in the season.

Coe College, a very strong conference opponent, posted similar scores against Wartburg, which is encouraging news for the Pioneers who face Coe on March 18.

"We are as good as we've ever been," said Best. "We've got a chance to win the conference again and maybe go a little further."

The men's tennis team will be making up for the slack last week with a full schedule this weekend.

"We have an away meet on Friday and two home meets on Saturday?," said Best. "That's a lot of tennis."

"I think it's really going to help us in our conditioning and mental focus," said Fox. "We haven't had this many matches in a row, so we'll be able to see what we're capable of."

The Pioneers play the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh this afternoon at 5 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and go up against Cornell College and Buena Vista College tomorrow at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively on the indoor tennis courts.

"This weekend if we play well, we shouldn't have trouble with any of the schools," said Best. "We are kind of calling these matches tune ups to get us ready for the future."

Most of the Pioeers are looking ahead and despite their strong position, they are not ready to underestimate the competition.

"Every school has the opportunity to do damage against us," said Fox. "It's whether or not we have the ability to step up our game and keep our mental focus. We'll be looking ahead to Carleton next week. I think they'll be our toughest opponent yet."

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