Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Lake Forest College men's tennis team split a pair of matches in Iowa on Saturday, falling 5-2 at Grinnell College before blanking Cornell College 7-0.

All three doubles matches went to Grinnell in the morning contest, although two of them were decided by just two games.

The Foresters' points came from the top and bottom of the singles lineup. Sophomore Felipe Moraes earned the first by posting a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over a player ranked 17th in the region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Freshman Zeke Bisharat secured the second with a 7-5, 6-0 triumph at #6.

Lake Forest prevailed at all nine spots in the lineup at Cornell in the afternoon. 

Moraes and junior Rodrigo Cunha defeated the Rams' top doubles team 6-2, senior Ian Villardi and sophomore Daniel Fotiev rolled 6-1 at #3, and junior Bernardo Aguiar and senior George Ciuca doubled up their opponents 6-3 at #2.

Each of the top three singles matches needed three sets to decide. Cunha dropped the first set 7-5 before taking the second 6-2 and the third 6-0 at #3. Moraes followed a similar path, falling 6-2 in set one but winning 6-1 nd 6-3 in the next two. Ciuca, on the other hand, came out on top 7-6 (7-4) in the opening set, lost the second 6-3, and did not drop a game in the third. Ciuca is now tied for third place in program history with 128 career victories in singles and doubles combined.

The wins were more convincing for the Foresters at the bottom three spots in the lineup. Sophomore Joao Espindola won 6-3, 6-2 at #4, Bisharat posted a 6-1, 6-2 victory at #5, and freshman Tim Pasea rolled 6-1 in the first set and 6-0 in the second at #6.

The split leaves Lake Forest with an overall record of 14-6 and a final Midwest Conference mark of 5-1. Grinnell improved to 16-5 overall and 5-0 in the league while Cornell fell to 14-10 overall and 4-1 in the MWC.

The Foresters will be in action next at the four-team MWC Tournament next Friday in Madison, Wisconsin.