(SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Sept. 12) – The McKendree University men's tennis team displayed a strong performance to open the fall season at the University of Illinois – Springfield Tennis Invite over the weekend.
 
The Bearcats performed extremely well in their first appearance of the season, with both seniors Maico Egbers (Breda, Netherlands/Graaf Engelbrecht School) and Ben Muller (Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand/Whangarei) making the consolation finals in the A flight for singles. Junior Ognjen Jevtic (Vukovar, Croatia) won all four of his singles matches to win the B flight, while sophomore Nicholas De Guzman (Courtice, ON/Holy Trinity) took his consolation finals match to win the B flight consolation bracket. In the C flight, junior Kayser Khan (London, England/Southfields Academy) went 3-1 falling in the finals match. Both sophomore Ratik Khanna (Jalandhar, India/MGN High School) and junior Evan Lockwood (Maitland, FL/Winter Park) dropped their first matches in the C flight, but were able to rebound and win their next two.
 
McKendree performed well in doubles as well with the duo of De Guzman and Hu earning a bid to the flight A finals, but falling just short of the win. The pairing of Egbers and Muller made it to the A flight semi-finals but fell to the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
 
The men's tennis team is back in action September 15-17 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals in Allendale, Michigan.
 
SINGLES
Flight A Results
Johnny Hu (Antwerpen, Mol/Campus Het Spoor)
16 Clarke, Sam (Illinois Springfield) def. Hu (McKendree University) 6-0, 6-3
qf-c Hu (McKendree University) def. Arpit Sahoo (Truman State) 6-1, 6-2
sf-c Martinez, Tommy (Illinois Springfield) def. Hu (McKendree University) 3-6, 6-4, 10-2
 
Ben Muller (Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand/Whangarei)
16 Muller (McKendree University) def. Alberto Maza (Missouri-St. Louis) 6-3, 2-6, 10-5
qf Muller (McKendree University) def. Molloy, Pete (Illinois Springfield) 6-1, 2-6, 10-2
f-c Ben-Hur Kasprzak (Missouri-St. Louis) def. Muller (McKendree University) 6-1, 6-1
 
Maico Egbers (Breda, Netherlands/Graaf Engelbrecht School)
16 Egbers (McKendree University) def. Rob White (Missouri-St. Louis) 3-6, 6-3, 10-5
qf Burgess-Hayes, Logan (Illinois Springfield) def. Egbers (McKendree University) 7-5, 6-4
f-c Egbers (McKendree University) def. Weiler, Erik (Quincy University) 6-1, 6-3
 
Flight B Results
Ognjen Jevtic (Vukovar, Croatia)
16 Jevtic (McKendree University) def. Milan Kovacs (Missouri-St. Louis) 6-2, 2-6, 10-6
qf Jevtic (McKendree University) def. Nick Thiele (Truman State) 6-1, 6-3
sf Jevtic (McKendree University) def. Ethan McCafferty (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake Boys High School) (McKendree University), by default
f Jevtic (McKendree University) def. Nathan Pinto (Missouri-St. Louis) 7-5, 0-6, 12-10
 
Ethan McCafferty (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake Boys High School)
16 McCafferty (McKendree University) def. Toro, Oscar (Illinois Springfield) 6-1, 4-6, 10-7
qf McCafferty (McKendree University) def. Anderson, Patrick (Quincy University) 6-2, 6-0
sf Ognjen Jevtic (Vukovar, Croatia) (McKendree University) def. Ethan McCafferty (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake Boys High School) (McKendree University), by default
 
Alberto Soriano Montalbon
16 Anderson, Patrick (Quincy University) def. Montalbon (McKendree University) 6-2, 6-4
16 Montalbon (McKendree University) def. BYE (), by default
qf Chan, Alex (Illinois Springfield) def. Montalbon (McKendree University) 6-3, 6-4
 
Nicholas De Guzman (Courtice, ON/Holy Trinity)
16 De Guzman (McKendree University) def. McMillan, Ryan (Quincy University) 6-4, retired
qf Nathan Pinto (Missouri-St. Louis) def. De Guzman (McKendree University) 6-4, 6-3
f-c De Guzman (McKendree University) def. Nick Thiele (Truman State) 6-1, 6-3
 
Men's Flight C
Kayser Khan (London, England/Southfields Academy)
16 Khan (McKendree University) def. BYE (), by default
qf Khan (McKendree University) def. Grant Burtron (Truman State) 6-0, 6-0
sf Khan (McKendree University) def. Karl Heinrichs (Missouri-St. Louis) 7-5, 6-7 (0-6), 10-8
f Kristoffer Lindal (Missouri-St. Louis) def. Khan (McKendree University) 6-1, 6-4
 
Ratik Khanna (Jalandhar, India/MGN High School)
16 Ayers, Jon (Illinois Springfield) def. Khanna (McKendree University) 6-4, 6-4
qf-c Khanna (McKendree University) def. Jack Miller (Truman State) 6-0, 6-1
sf-c Khanna (McKendree University) def. Claywell, Jon (Quincy University) 5-7, 6-1, 7-5
 
Evan Lockwood (Maitland, FL/Winter Park)
16 Kristoffer Lindal (Missouri-St. Louis) def. Lockwood (McKendree University) 6-1, 6-1
qf-c Lockwood (McKendree University) def. Pauley, Wyatt (Quincy University) 6-7 (0-2), 6-2, 10-7
sf-c Lockwood (McKendree University) def. Matt Thiele (Truman State) 6-2, 6-2
 
Joseph Jones (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East High School)
16 Jones (McKendree University) def. Matt Thiele (Truman State) 6-4, 6-4
qf Harper, Devin (Illinois Springfield) def. Jones (McKendree University) 6-0, 6-3
 
DOUBLES
Flight A Results
Egbers/Muller
1 Egbers/Muller (McKendree University) def. Griffin Turnage/Nick Thiele (Truman State) 8-1
qf Muller/Egbers (McKendree University) def. Burgess-Hayes, Logan/Molloy, Pete (Illinois Springfield) 9-7
sf Vitor Monteiro/Kristoffer Lindal (Missouri-St. Louis) def. Ben Muller (Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand/Whangarei)/Maico Egbers (Breda, Netherlands/Graaf Engelbrecht School) (McKendree University) 8-4
 
De Guzman/Hu
qf De Guzman/ Hu (McKendree University) def. Paul Province/Arpit Sahoo (Truman State) 8-4
sf De Guzman/Hu (McKendree University) def. Ben-Hur Kasprzak/Milan Kovacs (Missouri-St. Louis) 8-5
f Kristoffer Lindal/Vitor Monteiro (Missouri-St. Louis) def. Hu/De Guzman (McKendree University) 8-6
 
Flight B Results
Khanna/Lockwood
1 Ratik Khanna (Jalandhar, India/MGN High School)/Evan Lockwood (Maitland, FL/Winter Park) (McKendree University) def. Grant Burtron/Matt Thiele (Truman State) 8-1
qf Nathan Pinto/Rob White (Missouri-St. Louis) def. Ratik Khanna (Jalandhar, India/MGN High School)/Evan Lockwood (Maitland, FL/Winter Park) (McKendree University) 8-3
 
Khan/McCafferty
1 Chan, Alex/Harper, Devin (Illinois Springfield) def. Kayser Khan (London, England/Southfields Academy)/Ethan McCafferty (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake Boys High School) (McKendree University) 8-5
 
Jevtic/Montalbon
qf Jevtic/Montalbon (McKendree University) def. Alberto Maza/Karl Heinrichs (Missouri-St. Louis) 9-7
sf Chan, Alex/Harper, Devin (Illinois Springfield) def. Montalbon/Jevtic (McKendree University) 8-2