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 Tennis ends season with fifth-place finish at regionals

   By Nick Myers
   IV Leader Sports Writer

    The 2006 tennis season has come to an end for IVCC. The Eagles competed in their rain-soaked regional tournament this past weekend.
    The Eagles came in with high hopes, but left somewhat disappointed. The Eagles came into regionals with the goal of making it to the national tournament in Texas, but in order to do that the Eagles would have had to finish either first, second or third as a team. However, the Eagles finished fifth out of eight teams.
    “Our No. 1 goal coming in to regionals was to make it out of here qualifying for nationals,” coach Steve Swett said.
    However, there was a plus in finishing fifth. It was an improvement over the seventh place finish last year.
    In singles, No. 1 single’s player Dylan Slupianek was defeated in first round by his Sauk Valley opponent.
    “Dylan held his own at No. 1 singles all year,” Swett said. “It was good experience for him for next year.”
    Colby Lubanowski was also defeated at No. 2 singles by his Sauk Valley opponent in a three-set tiebreaker. The player from Sauk Valley eventually went on to the finals at No. 2 singles.
    At No. 3 singles was last year’s No. 6 singles champion Nick Myers. Myers defeated the No. 1 seed from Sauk Valley in the first round in a three-set tiebreaker. Nut he then fell in the semifinals to a player from Moraine Valley.
    No. 4 singles player Kyle Entwistle was also defeated in a three-set tiebreaker in first round to an Elgin opponent.
Jonathan Hinkey won his first match at No. 5 singles, but was defeated in the semifinals against his Elgin opponent.
    IVCC was once again represented in the championship at No. 6 singles. Adam Bulfer cruised through his first-round match and then defeated his Sauk Valley opposition in a three-set tiebreaker to advance to the championship. However, he was defeated by an Elgin player in finals and finished second.
    In doubles, all three of the doubles teams fell in first round. The No. 1 team of Lubanowski and Entwistle lost, as well as No. 2 team of Myers and Slupianek and No. 3 team of Bulfer and Pat Kromm.
    “Doubles were our strong point this year, however we just didn’t fare very well today in that category” said Swett. “All in all I thought we had a pretty good year. It was better then last year. We played well and we got to have some fun.”
    The Eagles finished 3-3 in conference play. The Eagles will be losing Lubanowski, Myers, Hinkey and Bulfer for next year, but are returning Slupianek, Entwistle, Kromm and Nick Wangelin for next year.

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