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RIPON, Wis. – The 2014 Midwest Conference (MWC) Men’s Tennis Championships will play out starting Friday, April 25 and continue through the weekend at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wis. The team championship is set to take place on Friday while singles and doubles action will be played on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Three participants from 2013 return in 2014 for the team tournament as Grinnell held a perfect 4-0 mark in the South Division while Carroll was tops in the North going 4-0 in divisional play. Grinnell will battle for the school’s 11th straight team championship and face-off against Lake Forest in the semifinals as the Foresters are back in the tournemnt after missing the four team field in 2013. Carroll takes on Monmouth in the other semifinal match among teams that are returning to the tournament from last seaosn. Earlier this year Grinnell dropped Carroll 9-0 on February 22 while Monmouth narrowly defeated Monmouth 5-4 on March 29. Both semifinal matches will start at 8:30 a.m. with the championship match set to take place at 1:30 p.m. for a chance to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Carroll earned a trip to the MWC Tournament with a perfect 4-0 conference record which helped them win the North Division. The Pioneers enter the tournament winning seven of their last 10 contests and are in search of a team title for the first time in school history. Individually Jack Michael headlines the teams out of the No. 1 flight after going 18-4 overall and 13-3 in flight which is the best record among all No. 1 flight competitors. Alex Reid had nine overall wins, six in the No. 6 flight, while teammate Matt Michael had six wins in the No. 2 flight. In doubles competition Jack Michael teamed with Matt Michael for nine wins in the No. 1 flight while Nick Schultz and Reid combined for a 9-6 record overall.

Cornell aims for its first singles champion since 1980 and its first doubles championship since 1976 when the team arrives in Madison. Thomas Weiss headlines the singles performers with 13 overall wins and plays out of the No. 2 flight where he went 12-10 during the season. Joseph Reyes plays out of the No. 4 flight where he was 11-10 this season and has 12 wins overall. Ben Williamson has seven wins out of the No. 3 flight while Hiro Harada had eight wins in the No. 5 flight. Reyes and Williamson are the top doubles team after winning eight matches in the No. 2 flight.

Grinnell once again won the MWC South Division and aims for its 11th straight conference championship this weekend. The Pioneers posted a 29-5 record during the season including going 22-2 to end the season. Grinnell returns three singles champions and defend a pair of doubles championships. C.J. Ray won the No. 4 flight last season and held a 9-6 overall record this season that included wins in five different flights. Tracy Johnson was the No. 5 flight champion a year ago and was a perfect 14-0 in-flight during the regular season while posting a 22-2 overall record. Charlie Wilhelm rounds out the defending singles champions out of the No. 6 flight and is 18-2 this year with an 11-1 mark in the No. 6 flight. In doubles play Johnson was one half of the No. 2 doubles flight champions and pairs with Emilio Gomez for a 20-5 record this season. The Pioneers are missing both of its 2013 No. 3 doubles flight champions but Cole Miller and Ray team up in that flight where they have a 13-3 flight record.

John Hoefert leads Illinois Col. in singles competition with two wins in the No. 1 flight while teammate Anthony Samples recorded a win in the No. 2 flight. Michael Hoefert plays out of the No. 3 flight with Austin Ellsworth playing in the No. 5 flight. John Hoefert and Samples team up in the No. 1 doubles flight and have a victory on the season while T.J Lawal and Ellsworth have a win in the No. 3 flight entering the championships.

Knox last won a singles championship in 2005 and is in search of a doubles championship for the first time since 1998, which was the second year of back-to-back doubles championships in the No. 3 flight. Walter Palmer plays out of the No. 1 flight and has nine wins on the season, which is tied for third-most in the MWC. Jonathan Ng had eight overall wins and all of those came in the No. 3 flight. In doubles play Palmer teams up with Karl Ruzgas for an 11-10 record in the No. 1 flight while Gatyas and Ng have a 7-5 record overall, 6-5 out of the No. 2 flight.

Lake Forest aims to break the Grinnell streak and win its first MWC Championship since 1999 after qualifying for the MWC Tournament with 12 wins during the regular season. The Foresters enter the weekend winning five of their last seven matches and defend one singles championship from 2013 (John Adams, No. 1 flight). John Snider posted a team-best 16-3 record this season including a 14-2 record in the No. 4 flight. Anthony Mykhaylovskyy is 13-10 overall and had a 12-3 record in the No. 5 flight during the regular season. Dragan Trivanovic contends in the No. 3 flight with 10 in-flight wins on the season. In doubles play Mykhaylovskyy teams with Derek Schaltz for a 12-11 record in the No. 3 flight while Snider and Trivanovic were 10-7 in the No. 2 flight.

Lawrence ranks fourth among active MWC schools in individual championships with 17 and will try to add to that total in Madison. David Jumes finished the season with a 12-5 record over two flights that included an 9-4 record in the No. 2 flight and a perfect 4-0 mark in league play. Jeremy Andereck earned five wins in the No. 3 flight while Ethan Perushek had four wins in the No. 6 flight. Jumes and Wiener teamed up for four wins in the No.2 doubles flight with Andereck and Brian DeCorte winning a pair of matches in the No. 1 doubles flight.

Monmouth is back in the MWC Tournament and aims for the school’s first championship since 1938. The Fighting Scots have reached the championship match in three of the last five years and look to overtake the other three schools after a 12 win season. David Johnson leads the team with 17 singles wins that include a 14-6 record in the No. 2 flight. Marco Franco had 13 wins over two flights with eight of those wins coming in the No. 5 flight. David Stewart plays out of the No. 3 flight where he has 11 of his 13 total wins on the season. Both Johnson (No. 2 flight) and Stewart (No. 3 flight) defend singles championships from last season. Johnson and Stewart team up as one the top doubles pairs in the league while defending a title in the No. 1 flight from 2013. The duo rank 10th in the latest ITA doubles rankings and finished the regular season with a 19-5 record. Chris Franco and Derek Rineberg are 14-9 out of the No. 2 flight to round out the Fighting Scots roster.

Ripon enters the championships with the most individual titles in conference history with 125 singles and doubles championships. The Red Hawks lead the league in every flight but the No. 6 flight and every doubles flight but the No. 3 flight. In 2014 Ripon relied on Eric Seiler who went 9-6 out of the No. 1 flight while Ryan Long was 3-6 in the No. 2 flight. Long and Seiler team up in the No. 1 doubles flight for a pair of sins with Brian Schumacher and Ryan Slowinski joining together in the No. 2 flight.

St. Norbert missed out on the MWC Tournament by a game and turns its attention to the individual championships where the Green Knights hope to earn a gold medal for the first time since 2007. Nate Gosz posted a 10-7 overall record this year and had wins in three different flights, highlight by a 4-3 record in both the No. 3 and 4 flight. Leon Gilman had five wins over the No. 3 and 4 flights while Casey Brice picked up a pair of wins in the No. 6 flight. In doubles play Brice and Gosz play out of the No. 1 flight with a 5-7 overall record while Gilman and Tim Hartwich are a perfect 4-0 in the No. 2 flight.