Monday, April 16 By Chris Varney
Not much local sports over the weekend as the weather was downright horrific but it was nice and cozy inside the Grinnell College Bear Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Grinnell College men’s tennis team did upset Coe College in a dual meet indoors on Sunday. Both teams are regionally ranked but the Kohawks (#8 in region, #35 nationally) are ranked significantly higher than the Pioneers (#17 in region). GC swept the doubles competition with Sam Stickels (Junior, Fairfield, IA) and Michael Conlin-Brandenburg (Freshman, St. Paul, MN) beating the #13 ranked doubles team and Ben Cobin (Sophomore, St. Louis, MO) and George Kaslow (Freshman, Port Washington, NY) winning over the #17 doubles team. Stickels would clinch the team win with a singles victory over #50 ranked Nate Ackert 2-6, 4-6, 6-3.
On Saturday, the Pioneers beat Lake Forest and Ripon, losing only one match total. Grinnell College has not lost a men’s tennis competition to a Midwest Conference foe since 2002. They have won 140 consecutive matches in the conference! That has included 14 straight conference titles.
That is a level of dominance that few teams have experienced in sports. The first such type of dominance that came to mind was the Iowa wrestling program from the late ’70s through late ’90s. During this time, Head Coach Dan Gable led the Hawkeyes to 25 straight Big Ten Championships, which produced 18 National Titles. While the Pioneers have not won national titles in their stretch, the Iowa wrestlers did lose to a Big Ten team here and there in a dual meet. Grinnell College men’s tennis has not lost to a conference opponent for 16 years. Two different teams, two different sports, maybe I am comparing apples and oranges, but similar results.
Grinnell College men’s tennis has three more matches this weekend, facing Illinois College, Monmouth College and Knox College all at home; the Midwest Conference tournament starts next Friday, April 27 in Madison, WI.