The Calvin men’s tennis team returned home with two non-conference victories in Kohler, Wis, and Lake Bluff, Ill, this past weekend.

While the Knights beat Lakeland University handily with a final set score of 9-0, their 5-4 victory against Lake Forest College was much closer.

Calvin’s team started out strong against Lakeland, as all three double pairs won. Junior Jose Larrea and freshmen Max Stallings played the No. 1 doubles and came out on top 8-0.

The second pair consisted of sophomore Cobe Benzel and junior Charlie Fahr, who took on No. 2 doubles and won 8-1. Sophomore Kyrus Tsai and first-year student Avery Holt beat their opponents 8-1 as well.

With stellar performances from the doubles matches, the Knights continued their undefeated run in the singles.

Fahr, Holt, Tsai, Benzel, senior Dave Brown and junior Jason Wolters each dominated their matches, and every singles player won both sets.

The match against Lake Forest, which took place later Saturday night, proved to be more challenging. Brown offered some context to the match:

“Last year we beat them by one match, just like this year. They got a few new guys, so we knew it was going to be close and we knew it might be tougher than last year.”

Calvin had an early lead on Lake Forest, winning two out of the three doubles matches. Wolters and senior Matt VanWinkle lost No. 1 doubles for Calvin, but the Knights promptly struck back.

Brown and sophomore Rodrigo C. V. Guzman won No. 2 doubles with a score of 8-6 and Larrea and Stallings won No. 3 doubles 8-3.

Despite this early lead, Lake Forest took back the pace of the match when they won the first half of the singles. Guzman, VanWinkle and Brown, respectively at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles, lost to each Lake Forest players.

Larrea and Stallings, each respectively at No. 4 and 6 singles, won their matches. Wolters, at No. 5 singles, made a sensational comeback after losing the first set 2-6 then winning the next set 6-1. The tiebreaker was also close, at 12-10, giving Calvin the 5-4 overall victory over Lake Forest.

Both Brown and Guzman agreed that the past weekend provided a team-building time. The team will play matches against higher ranked schools in Florida during spring break.

“This weekend was a great bonding experience. All players got to play matches, and we got to hang out,” Brown said. “Maybe because I’m a senior now, but it feels like probably the closest team we’ve had in four years. Probably the best one, too.”

Guzman praised head coach Ross’ part in the team.

“He is a great coach and mentor. He is one of the main reasons why I decided to come to Calvin. I’ve been learning a lot since I started working with him.”

Wolters also received the MIAA Athlete of the Week title for the first time on Monday, Mar. 5 for his performance in the past week, including his comeback against Lake Forest.

The Knights play a home game against Illinois Tech this Saturday, March 9 at 5 p.m.