Fox

 

LaFountaineAfter making history by becoming Grinnell College's first doubles entry in the NCAA Division III National Tennis Tournament, Dan LaFountaine '09 and Nate Fox '09 established another milestone while competing in the national event on Friday, May 22, at Claremont, Calif.LaFountaine (left) and Fox (right) earned the Pioneers' first-ever win at the Division III Tourney by rallying to knock off David Ashlock and Dustin Phillips of Tyler-Texas 4-6, 6-0 and 6-1. The Pioneers have had three national singles entries in the past, and each has failed to make it past the opening round.The win not only assured LaFountaine and Fox of All-America status, but sends them into Saturday afternoon's quarterfinals where they'll meet either third-seeded Michael Goodwin and Chris Goodwin of Emory or Jamie Neely and Oscar Pena of Bowdoin."After a long wait watching singles all day, our guys finally took the court at 3 p.m.," said Grinnell coach Andy Hamilton. "They were a little excited in the first set and got broke late to lose. Between sets we talked about calming down and getting our quality of play up, and that was the difference in the match."Even though the scores in the second and third sets looked decisive, we really had to fight hard at different times in those sets. But our guys were up for the challenge, just as they have been all year. I'm incredibly pleased for Dan and Nate to get Grinnell's first individual victory at the NCAA D-III Tourney level, because they've given so much to our program over the years."