Men's tennis loses to Knox, North Central

GALESBURG, Ill. – Zach Kusick went a perfect 4-0 in singles and doubles combined but the Simpson men's tennis team dropped a pair of decisions on Saturday, losing to Knox 6-3 and North Central 5-4.

Kusick teamed with Dylan Hogan at No. 3 doubles, sweeping the competition. He added two more wins at No. 2 singles, beating Jonathan Ng of Knox 7-5, 1-6, 10-6 and Rustam Saini of North Central 6-1, 6-3.

The Storm (1-5) lost a pair of third-set tiebreakers that made the difference in the loss to North Central.

Peter Reitgraf lost to Josh Rodig 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 at No. 3 singles and Blake Billings lost to Travis Kasynski at No. 6, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-8.

Alex Hook gave Simpson a win at No. 1 singles, beating Adam Ciccone 6-3, 6-3.

Simpson took two of three in doubles from North Central. In addition to the No. 3 win by Kusick and Hogan, Billings and Hook came away with a 9-8 (7-5) win at No.1 over Rodig and Jesse Adamson.

Billings recorded Simpson's only other singles win against Knox, beating Pragyaditya Mukerjee 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6.

Simpson goes to Concordia (Neb.) for a 6 p.m. start in Seward on Friday, Feb. 22.