Belvidere native makes winning assist at CCIW Fall Tennis Invitational

KENOSHA, Wis. – Freshman Jack Morkin, of University High School in Bloomington, Ill., won championships in both singles and doubles Sunday, Sept. 20 at the CCIW Fall Invitational hosted by Carthage College. Morkin claimed the title at fourth singles and teamed with junior Nicholas Prabhakar of Rockford Lutheran High School of Belvidere, Ill., to win at number two doubles.

Morkin won three straight singles matches by scores of 6-0, 6-1. He beat Kyle Endicott of Elmhurst in the quarters, Aleksandar Vasic of North Central in the semis and Fordy Leipold of Carthage for the title. He and Prabhakar won their doubles opener 8-6 over Vasic and Adam Winters, dispatched Leipold and Ryan Jump 8-5 in the semifinals and downed North Central’s Ryan Doeckel and Wilbur Williams 9-8 in the championship tilt.

Two more Viking frosh earned second-place singles finishes. At number three, Carl Christensen of Hoellviken, Sweden, opened with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Elmhurst’s Clay Corso. He defeated Williams 7-5, 6-3 in the semis before falling love and three to Carthage’s Chris Conley in the finals.

Alex Riddle, of York High School in Elmhurst, Ill., reached the title match at number five with wins over Kohlmeier (3-6, 7-5, 10-6) and Ringle (6-4, 6-2) of North Central. He lost love and two to Justin Delwader of Elmhurst in the finals.

Sophomore Samuel Totten, of University High School in Normal, Ill., and senior Harald Olsson of Hersby Gymnasium, Stockholm, Sweden, finished third at first and third singles, respectively. Totten was a love and one winner over North Central’s Oliver Moews in the quarters.

After falling 6-4, 7-5 to Carthage’s Alex Boomgarden in the semis, he rebounded with a 6-3, 1-6, 10-5 win over Red Man Pawel Jaworski in the third place match. Olsson beat Winters 7-5, 6-2; lost three and three to Conley and defeated Williams 6-3, 6-4.

Augustana seniors Austin Schoeck, of Alleman High School in Rock Island, Ill., and Patrick Lenz, of Villanova Prep in Ojai, Calif., chose not to play when matched up against each other in the third-place match at number two singles.

Schoeck was a 6- 2, 6-0 quarterfinal winner over Chris Wallace of Elmhurst before dropping a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Jump in the semis. Lenz won his quarterfinal match 6-0, 6-2 over North Central’s Connor Sass and fell 6-1, 6-4 to Jordan Verbauwhede of Carthage in the semis.

Prabhakar, at number four, sophomore Eric Pohl, of Fremd High School in Palatine, Ill., at number one and senior John Alexander of Guilford High School in Loves Park, Ill., at number six were all fifth-place finishers in singles. After a tough 4-6, 6-0, 13-11 setback to Jaworski in the quarters, Pohl came back to defeat Quinn Jennings and Alex Abdul of Elmhurst 7-5, 7-6 and 7- 5, 0-6, 10-8, respectively.

Prabhakar lost four and three to North Central’s Cristobal Arias-Staines before besting Illinois Wesleyan’s John Cordan 6-1, 6-1 and Carthage’s Mike Rivich 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Alexander lost 6-4, 6-4 to North Central’s Brandon Nasti before defeating Jonah Larson and Chris Primer of Carthage 6-4, 6-3 and 1-6, 6-1, 10-8, respectively.

In doubles play, Totten and Pohl took second and Schoeck and Olsson fourth at number one. Lenz and Christensen were fourth at number two and Riddle and Alexander finished fifth at number three.

Totten and Pohl were 8-1 quarterfinal winners over Sass and Krueder and beat Boomgarden and Conley 9-7 in the semis. They dropped the championship match to Jaworski and Verbauwhede by a score of 8-5.