The Lakeland Men’s Tennis team fell 5-4 to Carroll College on Feb. 20 at the Moorland Park Tennis Center in New Berlin, Wis.

The Muskies, now 1-3 overall, picked up decisive wins at No. 1 doubles and at singles flights No. 1, 2, and 5.

Men’s Tennis Coach Doron Green, who was forced to shuffle the lineup due to the unavailability of No. 3 singles player freshman Jake Halverson, talked about the match at No. 1 doubles.

“It was very exciting tennis to watch. We haven’t run into guys who could serve like they were serving, really flat and hard,” Green said. “Our lineup was front-heavy, and I think it worked out.”

The revamped No. 1 pair of senior Andre Glass and freshman Andy McGlashen were down 3-5 in the eight-game set before they employed a new strategy to deal with the Pioneers’ hard-serving duo en route to their 9-8 victory.

“In traditional doubles the players are offset—one player at the net and one at the baseline. Andy and Andre both moved to the baseline, and they stuck with that strategy for the rest of the match and were able to win the tiebreak 7-4 and win the match,” Green said.

In singles matches, McGlashen handily defeated Carroll’s No. 1, 6-0, 6-3 while Glass claimed a close win at No. 2, 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 tiebreak. Junior Yuki Shiono picked up his second singles win of the season 6-3, 6-3.

“Andy dominated his match against a player with a big serve. He let three games get away in the second set but the match was never in doubt,” Green said, going on to praise Glass’ composure during the super tiebreak, which he won 10-4.

Green went on to comment on Shiono’s performance, “From the first point of the match, Yuki had the kid [he was playing] talking to himself. Yuki out-steadied him from the baseline.”

Freshman Dane Maier nearly gave Lakeland its second win of the season against a Pioneer team that routed the Muskies 8-1 the previous year when he took the No. 6 singles match to a tiebreak, only to lose the tiebreak 10-4.

“Dane lost the first set, but really concentrated and played hard and managed to win the second set. We both felt that if he had been able to play a third set instead of just a tiebreak, he would have won,” Green said.

Carroll’s No. 2 doubles team blanked juniors Tom Kuehl and David May 8-0 while Shiono and Maier lost 8-2 at No. 3. Kuehl lost 6-3, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.

Green was content with his players’ performances and believes his team is still capable of improvement.

“I’m very satisfied and pleased with the outcome. Last year we had an 8-1 loss to these guys and this year we were six points from winning the entire match,” he said. “The team’s lineup is in no way set. We’re working on strategic doubles combinations for the rest of the year.”

On Saturday, Feb. 13, Lakeland lost to Lake Forest and Lawrence 6-1 and 8-1, respectively. McGlashen picked up a 6-1, 6-2 win against Lake Forest’s No. 1, while Glass pulled off a close three set win at No. 2 singles versus Lawrence, 6-4, 7-6.

The tough non-conference matches continue this Friday, Feb. 26, when the Muskies will take on UW-Oshkosh at the YMCA Tennis Center in Oshkosh.