Sept. 25, 2009

Romeoville, Ill. - Expectations were high for Lewis University's Uno Lapimaa (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentese) and Tonis Irdoja (Tallinn, Estonia/Rocca Al Mare Kool) as they entered the Wilson/ITA Great Lakes Men's Division II Tennis Regional Championship seeded third and fourth in the draw respectively.

Neither disappointed, as the Flyer duo each won two matches to advance to the `Sweet 16' of the tournament.

"For the most part, the guys played very well today," Lewis head men's tennis coach Brett Bridel said. "We have two guys still going tomorrow and one doubles team, so that's real encouraging."

Lapimaa opened the day with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of Grand Valley State's Jeff Globerson and added a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Southern Indiana's Joe Boesing. Lapimaa squares off with Lake Superior State's Razvan Mag on Saturday for the right to advance to the quarterfinals.

Lapimaa would later pair with teammate Lorenz Pestinger (Bad Homburg, Germany/Humboldtschule/Missouri Valley) for the 8-5 win over Ferris State's Ahmet Demir and Kyle Revall. Lapimaa and Pestinger advanced to the quarterfinals with an 8-3 win over Michigan Tech's Douglas Yossida and Luka Stupar.

Irdoja claimed a 6-3, 6-4 win over Southern Indiana's Ben Roeser and disposed of Yossida (6-4, 5-7, 7-3). He moves on to face Grand Valley State's Marc Roesslein on Saturday.

Irdoja teamed up with freshman Jesse Hardacre (Racine, Wis./St. Catherine's) for the 8-5 win over Michigan Tech's Chris Verhulst and Anders Sondholm. The pair, however, dropped an 8-2 decision at the hands of Grand Valley State's Marc Rosslein and Tony Dang.

Second day action begins on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. (CST).

A Catholic university sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis offers nearly 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, accelerated degree completion options for working adults, various aviation programs and 22 graduate programs in nine fields. The 10th largest private, not-for-profit university in Illinois is being honored for the sixth consecutive year by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. For more information please visit www.lewisu.edu.

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