APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's tennis team took third place at the Midwest Conference Championships, and the Vikings had two singles players and one doubles team place second.
During Friday's team portion of the tournament, the league's top four teams faced off for the conference title. Lawrence lost 5-0 to Grinnell College in the semifinals, but the Vikings bounced back to beat St. Norbert College 5-2 in the third-place match.
The Vikings swept the doubles against St. Norbert and Ryan Dunn (No. 1) and Dan Hertel (No. 4) both won their matches to provide the winning points. The matches are only played until a decision has been reached.
Dunn, the conference's defending champion at No. 1 singles, was the runner-up this year. Dunn lost to Grinnell's Juan Carlos Perez 6-1, 7-6, in the championship match. Dunn beat Monmouth College's Kyle Korb in the semifinals and topped Carroll University's Michael Wajda in the quarterfinals.
The other Lawrence player to reach a singles final was Travis Fondow, who lost to Grinnell's Martin Dluhos 6-0, 4-6, 6-4, in the title match. Fondow topped Monmouth's Ben Morrow in three sets in the semifinals and didn't lose a game in beating Ripon College's Matt Theis in the quarterfinals.
In the other singles flights, Caleb Ray was eliminated in the quarterfinals at No. 2 singles. At No. 3, Kazunari Kishida advanced to the semifinals before he was eliminated. Dan Hertel lost in the quarterfinals at No. 4, but he came back to win the consolation title by beating Beloit College's Mark Bromwich 10-2. Kyle Nodarse also advanced to the semifinals at No. 5 before losing.
Dunn and Hertel were the top doubles team for the Vikings. Grinnell's Dan LaFountaine and Nate Fox beat Dunn and Hertel 6-1, 6-1 in the championship match at No. 1. Dunn and Hertel won in straight sets in both the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Ray and Kishida won a pair of matches to reach the semifinals at No. 2 before being eliminated. Fondow and Peter Mohr lost in the quarterfinals at No. 3 but came back to win the consolation title. Fondow and Mohr topped Carroll's Adam Knoelke and Shea O'Rorke 10-5 in the consolation final.