Lawrence Tech men's tennis opened its spring slate with a challenging road exhibition against NCAA Division II Wayne State in Detroit on Saturday, falling in both singles and doubles play but gaining valuable early-season experience. The Blue Devils dropped all six singles matches and three doubles contests against a deep Warrior lineup in a tune-up that did not count toward official dual records.
In singles action, Lawrence Tech showed flashes of strong play throughout the lineup, highlighted by a three-set battle at the No. 5 position. Takuya King grabbed the opening set 6-4 against Wayne State's Harry Forsyth, one of the tightest sets of the day for the Blue Devils. Forsyth answered in the second and edged King in a 10-4 match tiebreak, but King's ability to secure a set underscored Lawrence Tech's competitiveness in the middle of the order.
Wayne State controlled the top of the lineup, with No. 1 singles player Tom Wasner defeating Carlos Patricio 6-2, 6-1 and No. 2 Benjamin Hill topping Augustin Patte 6-2, 7-5. Patte pushed Hill in the second set, extending games and keeping the set within one break before Hill closed it out. At No. 3, Thomas Mathys posted a 6-0, 6-2 result over Alessandro Gatto, while at No. 4, Sam Knowles earned a 6-2, 6-0 win against Juan J.E. Pastor. Rounding out singles play, Warren Gunnar defeated Gael Guthrie 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 6 spot, with Guthrie raising his level in a more competitive second set.
In doubles, Lawrence Tech's most dramatic effort came at the No. 2 position, where Augustin Patte and Gael Guthrie pushed the Warrior duo of Forsyth and Gunnar to a tiebreak. The Blue Devils pair forced extra points before ultimately falling 7-6, with Wayne State claiming the breaker 12-10 in one of the closest outcomes of the day. The performance gave Lawrence Tech a strong measure of its doubles potential against a tested Wayne State team.
At No. 1 doubles, Patricio and Pastor faced Wasner and Knowles, with Wayne State earning a 6-1 decision. On the third court, King and Gatto paired up against Cole Anderson and Hill, where the Warriors again took a 6-1 result. Despite the scores, the doubles session allowed the Blue Devils to test combinations and build chemistry, an important step in the early portion of the season.
Although Lawrence Tech came away without an official match win in the exhibition, the Blue Devils leveraged the opportunity to see new pairings, challenge a nationally competitive Wayne State program and identify areas of growth before conference play. The effort from King at No. 5 singles, Patte's second-set push at No. 2, and the Patte-Guthrie tandem's near-upset in the No. 2 doubles tiebreak provided encouraging signs as the Blue Devils prepare for the upcoming dual schedule.
