This past weekend, UW-Eau Claire men’s tennis competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional tournament hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College.
Many of the schools the Blugolds faced at this regional tournament were highly ranked in the region, including No.5-ranked Gustavus Adolphus, No.7-ranked UW-Whitewater and No.9-ranked Carthage College.
The ITA Midwest Regional marked the final tournament in a short fall season for the Blugolds. They do not have another official match until they host Macalester College on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
The Blugolds sent 12 players to compete in St. Peter, Minnesota for the event. The team managed to collect five wins total across the weekend.
Fourth-year student Ethan Leeser lost a competitive match to Emilio Ulloa from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) in a third-set tiebreak (5-10).
Despite his loss in the singles draw, Leeser found success with his doubles partner, third-year Pablo Rincón.
“We definitely overperformed a bit,” Leeser said. “We made the second day in doubles too and we ended up losing to the number three seed, but it was a really close match and we were actually up for a lot of it.”
Rincón and Leeser had not played doubles before this tournament but played together due to a last-minute lineup change, according to the two.
The duo that beat Leeser and Rincón, Jack Rivkin and Akshay Garapati of Carleton College, went on to place second overall in the men’s open doubles draw.
Rincón additionally played singles and won his match against Watson Sheard of Bethel University in three sets after receiving a first-round bye. Rincón lost the following match in two sets to Deuce Daniel of Gustavus Adolphus College.
The other team wins came from Andrew Mueller against Macalester’s Beckett Annes and first-year Blugold students Logan Carroll and Jack Michaud against Ryan Bitz and Niklas Cook from Concordia College.
Mueller also earned a doubles win with his partner, Sam Murillo, over Geoffrey Stoughton and Rhys Biro-Moore, who were playing for Luther College. Mueller and Murillo lost their next match to the five-seeded Francisco Silveira and Linus Bangert of Carthage College.
Despite the fall season being short in comparison to the spring season, Rincón said that the team doesn’t approach it any differently than their main season.
“We try to give our best at practices before this tournament,” Rincón said. “We stay competitive and try to get some matches in before the regional tournament and keep practicing until our main season.”
Players enjoy regional tournaments like this because they provide an opportunity to watch some fantastic tennis matches from other schools in their division and, hopefully, learn more to add to their play, according to Rincón.
“It’s always fun to just see the good players play,” Rincón said. “Some very good players are there, especially from Gustavus or Luther. It’s always fun to see them play doubles or singles and maybe see what you can implement in your own game.”
The team will continue its practices throughout the off-season as it prepares for its spring season. Their main goal in the meantime is to work hard and continue improving as much as they can before then, according to Leeser.
Degear can be reached at [email protected].
