NAPERVILLE — The early stages of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) men’s tennis season marched on last week with a featured individual honor, an early-season unbeaten mark and a pair of 2-0 road swings away from conference play. 
 
Carthage’s Ethan Foucheaux earned CCIW Student-Athlete of the Week recognition following a 3-0 week, while Illinois Wesleyan moved to 3-0 with two wins at its home triangular. Millikin and Carroll also logged split-venue weekends, and Augustana faced a pair of regional tests as teams will turn toward another full non-conference schedule ahead of the league opener.
 
Foucheaux Fetches Top Honors Following Firebird Split
On Tuesday, the conference office announced Carthage junior Ethan Foucheaux was selected as the CCIW Men’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week. A native of Jefferson City, Mo., Foucheaux went 3-0 last week as the Firebirds split a pair of non-conference matches.
 
Carthage opened the stretch last Friday with a 4-3 loss to No. 38 Wisconsin-Whitewater in Racine. Foucheaux and Francisco Silveira earned a 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles. In singles, Cyriac Cayuela won at No. 4 (6-2, 7-5), Finn Morris won at No. 3 (6-4, 7-5), and Linus Bangert won at No. 5 (3-6, 7-6, 6-4). The match was decided at No. 6 singles, where Luca Okino fell 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.
 
The Firebirds returned last Sunday with a 6-1 win over MSOE. Carthage secured the doubles point with a sweep, then won five singles flights, including a 6-4, 7-5 victory for Foucheaux at No. 6 singles. Following the weekend, Carthage stands 5-1 overall.
 
Titan Triple Threat: Illinois Wesleyan Eyes Best Start in Years
Illinois Wesleyan hosted a triangular last Saturday at Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington and came away with two wins to move to 3-0 overall, marking the program’s best start since the 2020-21 season.
 
In the opener, the Titans edged Franklin, 4-3. Illinois Wesleyan swept the doubles point behind wins from Ian Turnbull and Ben Vigneri at No. 1 (7-5), Thad Dillow and Griffin Hammond at No. 2 (6-1) and Will Ehrlich and Truman Raher at No. 3 (7-6). In singles, Turnbull won at No. 1 (6-1, 6-1), Vigneri won at No. 2 (7-5, 6-0), and Hammond won at No. 4 (6-1, 6-1).
 
IWU followed with a 6-1 win over Webster. The Titans dropped the doubles point, but won all six singles matches, including straight-set wins from Turnbull at No. 1 (6-1, 6-0), Vigneri at No. 2 (6-2, 6-1), and Dillow at No. 3 (6-0, 6-0). Hammond added a win at No. 4 (6-2, 6-4), Ehrlich won at No. 5 (6-1, 6-2), and Raher received the No. 6 point by default.
 
Big Blue Iowa Incursion Yields Double Dividends
Millikin traveled to Mount Vernon, Iowa on Saturday for two non-conference matches hosted by Cornell, earning a 7-0 win over Simpson and a 5-2 win over the host.
 
In the sweep of Simpson, Millikin won all three doubles matches and all six singles flights. Doubles wins came from Gillian Nahum and Jorge Aura (6-4), Matthew Kordesh and Thomas Tartari (6-0) and Nils Fischer and Elijah Aumann (6-0). Singles victories were recorded by Nahum (6-0, 6-1), Kordesh (6-2, 6-0), Tartari (6-2, 6-0), Aura (6-0, 6-3), Fischer (6-1, 6-0) and Aumann (6-0, 6-2).
 
Against Cornell, Millikin secured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 from Nahum and Aura (6-2) and at No. 3 from Fischer and Eduardo Vargas (6-0). In singles, Kordesh won at No. 2 (6-2, 6-1), Tartari won at No. 3 (6-4, 6-4), Vargas won at No. 4 (7-5, 3-6, 10-8), and Aura won at No. 5 (6-1, 3-6, 10-6). The weekend improved Millikin to 3-1 overall.
 
Pioneer Progress: Carroll Contends in De Pere
Carroll went 1-1 on a two-match road swing to De Pere, Wis. last Saturday, defeating Hamline, 6-1, before falling to host St. Norbert, 4-3.
 
In the win over Hamline, the Pioneers earned all six singles points, highlighted by three flights that went to a third-set tiebreaker. Singles winners were Andrew LaBelle at No. 1 (2-6, 6-1, 7-0), Ultrik Gellein at No. 2 (6-4, 6-2), Ryan LaBelle at No. 3 (2-6, 6-1, 8-0), Felix Persson at No. 4 (4-6, 6-4, 8-0), David Eman at No. 5 (6-0, 6-1) and Layton Carls at No. 6 (6-1, 2-6, 8-0). Carroll’s doubles point came only at No. 3, where Persson and Carls won 6-3.
 
Later in the day, Carroll took the doubles point with wins from Andrew LaBelle and Eman at No. 2 (6-4) and Persson and Carls at No. 3 (7-5). In singles, Carroll earned points from Gellein at No. 2 (7-5, 6-4) and Carls at No. 6 (7-6, 7-6), but St. Norbert claimed all three third-set tiebreakers to decide the match. Carroll is 4-5 overall.
 
Viking Voyage: Augustana Confronts Ranked Opponents
Augustana played two matches over the weekend, falling 7-0 to Chicago on Saturday in Sterling, then dropping a 6-1 decision at Kalamazoo on Sunday in Kalamazoo.
 
Against Kalamazoo, Augustana won the doubles point behind a 7-5 win from Santiago Diaz and Saman Rezaeyan at No. 2 and a 6-2 win from Grant Meyers and Santiago Lazo at No. 3. In singles, Diaz at No. 1 and Meyers at No. 5 pushed matches to third sets, but were unable to convert. Augustana stands 1-2 following the weekend.
 
Standing Orders: Conference Results and Upcoming Itineraries
As of Wednesday, Illinois Wesleyan leads the conference by winning percentage at 1.000 (3-0 overall), followed by Carthage (5-1) and Millikin (3-1). North Central is 1-1 overall. Carroll (4-5), Augustana (1-2), Wheaton (1-3), and Elmhurst (0-1) round out the current standings. No conference matches have been played to date.
 
The upcoming weekend slate features several non-conference matchups. On Friday, Carthage hosts DePauw at 1:30 p.m. in Racine, Wis., while Carroll hosts Illinois Tech at 8:00 p.m. in New Berlin. 
 
On Saturday, Illinois Wesleyan plays at Galesburg against Monmouth and Principia. North Central travels to Greencastle to face Wabash and DePauw. Wheaton hosts Concordia Wisconsin at 2 p.m. in Hanover Park. 
 
North Central concludes its trip at Kalamazoo on Sunday at 11 a.m. and Millikin hosts Franklin at 4 p.m. in Bloomington, Ill.