WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University has been seeded third for the 2019 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament which is scheduled for April 26-27 at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center at Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo.
The Goroks finished the conference season with a 2-2 record to finish in third place in the league standings. Overall, Webster comes into the postseaosn sporting a 12-6 record and enters the SLIAC Tournament having won just two of its last four matches to close out the regular season.
Webster will oepn the SLIAC Tournament on Friday, April 26 against No. 2 seeded Greenville University in the semifinal round at 11 a.m. Greenville picked up an 8-1 win over the Gorloks in the teams regular season meeting on April 17 at Greenville. The Panthers went 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the SLIAC with its lone league loss coming at home to Principia on April 16.
Friday's tournament will begin with a play-in match at 11 a.m. between No. 4 seed Fontbonne (1-11 overall, 1-3 SLIAC) facing No. 5 seeded Westminster (0-8 overall, 0-4 SLIAC) with that winner advancing to a 2 p.m. semifinal match against top-seeded and regular season SLIAC Champion Principia College (12-8 overall, 4-0 SLIAC. Friday's other match will be one for fifth place which will feature the loser of the Fontbonne-Westminster match meeting the loser of the Webster-Greenville match at 2 p.m.
On Saturday, April 27, 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 went 9-7 overall and 2-2 in the league play, went 2-1 at the SLIAC Tournament to finish third overall as they opened with a 5-0 loss to Greenville, before picking up a 5-1 win over Fontbonne and then earning a 5-1 win against Westminster in the third place match.
This season, Webster has won three more matches than they won all of last season and are assured of posting a winning record for the second consecutive year. The 12 wins this season are the most for the Gorloks since winning a school record 19 matches and posting a 19-3 record in 2013. During the regular season this year, Webster had a stretch where they won 10 consecutive matches, which was the longest winning streak for the program since the 2013 squad won 13 consecutive matches en route to winning a school record 19 matches.
Webster's top three singles players come into the SLIAC Tournament having won double digit matches on the season as those three players have posted a combined record of 34-18 in singles play.
Leading the way for the Gorloks is junior
Riley Muren (O'Fallon, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) as he has posted a 12-6 record in singles at the No. 1 spot in the line-up and enters the postseason having won three straight matches and six of his last 10 overall. In SLIAC play, Muren went 3-1 with his only loss coming to Principia.
In addition to Muren, sophomore
Austin Nation (Oklahoma City, Okla./Purcell) and senior
Charlie McGhee (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) have each won 11 matches this season as Nation is sporting an 11-6 mark at No. 2 singles and McGhee went 11-6 at No. 3 singles. In SLIAC play, Nation went 3-1 in singles, while McGhee went 2-2. On the season, Webster posted a 66-36 record in singles play, including a 13-11 mark in SLIAC singles action.
Sophomore
Tom Shutzman (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South) has been Webster's primary No. 4 singles player this season as he has posted a 7-5 record, while freshman
Tanner Haugen (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson) went 6-2 at the No. 5 spot and is sporting an 8-4 overall record in singles and junior
Nicolas Andrade (Quito, Ecuador/Francis Howell) is expected to play at No. 6 singles in the SLIAC Tournament as he went 4-2 at that spot during the regular season and is 6-6 overall in singles on the year. Another player that could play at No. 6 singles this weekend is freshman
Justin Kohler (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) as he went 3-0 at the No. 6 and is sporting a 4-0 overall record on the year in singles.
Meanwhile, in doubles action, the No. team of Muren and Nation is sporting a 4-7 record as they went 0-2 in doubles during SLIAC play. In SLIAC play, all three of WU's main doubles teams went 0-6. In addition to Muren and Nation, the No. 2 team of McGhee and Shutzman went 4-4 overall and the No. 3 team of Andrade and Haugen went 2-3 overall. On the season, Webster has played 18 different combination of doubles pairings and went 22-28 in doubles, including posting a 4-8 mark in SLIAC doubles action.
Greenville comes into Friday's match with Webster having won two straight matches after its 12 match win streak was snapped on on April 10 at Millikin. In that match, Greenville fell 7-2. The Panthers lone loss in league play was a 9-0 decision to Principia. Austin Burkhart led the way for the Panthers and he went 9-4 at No. 4 singles, while Tyler Blume recorded 10 wins and Zach Plocher had nine wins at the top of the line-up. The Panthers' No. 2 doubles team of Blume and Justin Tilford went 9-1 and overall, Greenville has posted a 33-12 record in doubles play this year.
Webster, who is coached by
Mike Siener, has posted a 12-15 record in the SLIAC Tournament since 2008, including finishing as runner-up in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and placing third in 2012, 2016 and 2018.
Siener is in his 14th season at the helm of the Gorloks men's tennis program and he has posted a 121-86 record and was named the 2012 SLIAC Coach of the Year. His 121 wins are the most in school history. In his time at Webster, Siener has led the Gorloks to six seasons of winning 10 or more matches, including that 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.
Friday, April 26
Match 1 - #4 Fontbonne vs. #5 Westminster, 11 a.m.
Match 2 - #2 Greenville vs. #3 Webster, 11 a.m.
Match 3 - #1 Principia vs. Winner of Match 1, 2 p.m.
Match 4 - Loser of Match 1 vs. Loser of Match 2, 2 p.m. (Fifth Place Match)
Saturday, April 27
Match 5 - Loser of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 4, 11 a.m. (Third Place Match)
Match 6 - Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 2, 11 a.m. (Championship Match)
