UW-Oshkosh earned its first win of the season by splitting a pair of men's tennis matches on Saturday (Feb. 20) in Grinnell, Iowa.
The Titans (1-5) lost 8-1 to Grinnell College in the opener before holding on to defeat Central College (Iowa), 5-4.
Grinnell College, which has captured the last 12 Midwest Conference championships, won all six singles contests to pull away from UW-Oshkosh after the doubles competition.
The lone UW-Oshkosh victory came at No. 2 doubles, where Adam Hawley and Adam Martin combined to edge Breau Bressler and Will Hamilton, 8-6.
Grinnell College took the remaining doubles contests on wins by Bryson Cale and Sam Catanzaro in the first flight and Caleb Kumar and Ameer Shujjah in the third. Cale and Catanzaro defeated Vincent Gorski and Ryan Kuzmanovic, 8-5, while Kumar and Shujjah ousted William O'Connell and Logan Zastrow, 8-2.
The Pioneers (8-3) won five of their six singles matches in straight sets, including Cale's 6-2, 7-5 victory over Gorski in the first flight, Catanzaro's 7-6, 6-3 triumph over Kuzmanovic in the second and Bressler's 6-4, 6-2 win over Hawley in the fourth.
Other Grinnell College victories belonged to Zach Lane in the third flight, Hamilton in the fifth and Shujjah in the sixth.
Lane went to an extra session before outlasting Martin, 6-7, 6-3, 14-12. Hamilton won a 7-5, 6-2 decision over David Leffler and Shujjah a 6-1, 6-3 result over Jordan Andersen.
Against Central College (3-2), UW-Oshkosh built a 2-1 lead after the doubles competition and secured the win by splitting its six singles contests.
In doubles play, UW-Oshkosh received wins from Gorski and Kuzmanovic in the first flight and Hawley and Martin in the second. Gorski and Kuzmanovic defeated West Adelman and Jimmy Cunningham, 8-3, while Hawley and Martin ousted CJ Cliff and Jacob Logan, 8-6.
Sam Dykstra and Garret Taylor gave Central College its lone doubles victory with their 8-2 decision over Andersen and O'Connell in the third flight.
Individual winners for UW-Oshkosh against the Dutch were Gorski in the first flight, Hawley in the third and Kuzmanovic in the fourth.
Gorski went to a tiebreaker before prevailing over Adelman, 7-6 (5), 0-6, 10-7, while Hawley claimed a 6-2, 7-5 decision over Tom Palmer and Kuzmanovic a 6-3, 6-4 result over Dykstra.
Taylor captured the No. 2 singles contest for the Dutch with his 6-3, 6-4 win over Martin. Logan contributed a lengthy 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 victory over Zastrow in the fifth flight and Cliff a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Andersen in the sixth.
UW-Oshkosh plays its first home match of the season on Saturday (Feb. 27) at the Oshkosh YMCA Tennis Center against Carroll University.
