WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University has been seeded third for the 2018 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament which is scheduled for April 20-21 at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center at Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo. In case of rain, the tournament will be held at King's Point in Belleville, Ill.
The Gorloks finished the conference season with a 2-2 record to finish in third place. Overall, Webster is sporting a 7-6 record on the season and comes into the SLIAC Tournament having won four of its final seven matches to close the regular season.
Webster will open the SLIAC Tournament on Friday, April 19 against No. 2 seeded Greenville University in the first round at 11 a.m. Greenville collected a 9-0 win over the Gorloks in their regular season meeting on April 11 at the Webster Groves Tennis Center. Greenville went 14-2 overall and 3-1 in the SLIAC.
Friday's other first round match at 11 a.m. will feature No. 4 seed Westminster (Mo.) College (2-6, 1-3 SLIAC) facing No. 5 seeded Fontbonne University (0-6, 0-4 SLIAC). Following Friday's first round, there will be two more matches on Friday, April 20 as No. 1 seeded and regular season SLIAC Champion Principia (11-6, 4-0 SLIAC) will meet the winnner of the Westminster-Fontbonne match at 2 p.m., whille the loser of the Westminster-Fontbonne match will meet the loser of the Webster-Greenville match in the fifth place match also scheduled for 2 p.m.
On Saturday, April 21, the two matches will be a third place match and the championship match, which both are scheduled to begin at 11 a,m.
Last season, Webster, who posted a 4-7 record and a 1-3 mark in league play, went 1-2 at the SLIAC Tournament as they opened with a 5-2 win over Fontbonne, before falling 9-0 to Principia and then suffering a 5-0 loss to Westminster in the third place match.
This season, Webster has won three more matches than they won all of last season and a looking to finish the season with a winning record for the first time since going 10-5 in the 2016.
Freshman Zach Bliss (Branson, Mo./Branson) leads the Gorloks with a 9-4 record in singles, including a 7-4 record at the No. 5 spot, while sophomore Riley Muren (O'Fallon, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) went 7-6 in singles at the top spot in the line-up. Two other Gorloks, junior Charles McGhee (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) and freshman Nicolas Andrade (Quito, Ecuador/Francis Howell) each posted .500 records as McGhee finished the regular season 6-6 in the singles, including a 4-6 mark at the No. 4 spot and Andrade was 5-5 in singles, including going 4-5 at the No. 6 spot. On the season, Webster went 39-39 in singles play, incliuding a 9-15 mark in SLIAC singles play.
Meanwhile, in doubles action, the No. 2 team of McGhee and freshman Tom Shutzman (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South) went 3-2 at the No. 2 spot. In SLIAC play, all three of Webster's main doubles teams went 1-2. The No. 1 doubles spot features Muren and McGhee, while Shutzamn and freshman Austin Nation (Oklahoma City, Okla./Purcell) man the No. 2 spot and Bliss and Andrade play together at the No. 3 spot. On the season, Webster went 16-23 in doubles, including posting a 4-8 mark in SLIAC play in doubles.
Greenville opened this season winning its first 12 matches before suffeing a loss to Rose-Hulman. The Panthers only loss in league play was a 5-4 decision against Principia. Zach Plocher led the team with 15 singles wins, playing mainly at the No. 4 spot, while Austin Burkhart and Justin Tilford each picked up 14 wins. The doubles tandem of Tilford and Nate Wieland posted a 12-4 record.
Webster, who is coached by Mike Siener, has posted a 10-14 record in the SLIAC Tournament since 2008, including finishing as runner-up in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and placing third in 2012 and 2016.
Siener is in his 13th season at the helm of the Gorloks men's tennis program and he has posted a 107-79 record and was named the 2012 SLIAC Coach of the Year. His 107 wins are the most in school history. In his time at Webster, Siener has led the Gorloks to five seasons of winning 10 or more matches, including a school record 19 wins in 2013.
Principia College has taken home four consecutive SLIAC Men's Tennis Tournament Championships and has won a league-best 17 overall tournament titles. In fact, the only other school to win an SLIAC Tournament title besides Principia is Westminster as the Blue Jays have won 12 titles with its most recent title coming in 2013.
