Lake County defends Region 4 title in 2022, Azhar named MVP

GRAYSLAKE, ILL. - The College of Lake County successfully defended its 2021 Region 4 title by winning six of nine flights to claim the 2022 Region 4 Division I Men's Tennis Championship. The Lancers racked up 24 points to best second place Sauk Valley Community College for the second consecutive year as the Skyhawks finished with 20.5 points. Sophomore Houd Azhar was named Region 4 Player of the Year after winning both the singles and doubles titles in Flight #1, while Jim Love was named Region 4 Coach of the Year after guiding CLC to it's third championship in six years.

Azhar defeated last year's Region 4 Player of the Year Preston Engel of SVCC by a 6-3, 6-3 score, and then joined forces with Billy Friedman to repeat as Flight #1 Doubles champs with a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Engel and his brother, Corey. The Lancers also finished with singles titles from Friedman (Singles #2), Mason Cohen (Singles #3), and Jack Murrie (Singles #4). Corey Engel and Jared Mitchell of Sauk Valley claimed the final two singles brackets, winning Flights #5 and #6, respectively.

The College of Lake County also saw Cohen and Mikre Kim combine to win the Doubles #2 crown, with the Skyhawks tandem of Mitchell and Jonathan Rhodes finishing atop the Doubles #3 bracket. The Lancers were runners-up in two of the three flights they did not win, with Illinois Valley Community College recording the other runner-up finish.

2022 Region 4 Division I Men's Tennis Final Results

The College of Lake County, as well as members of the SVCC team, earned an automatic bid into the 2022 NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships in Tyler, Texas. The Lancers finished with two team points, while the Skyhawks posted 1.5 points to finish 24th and 25th overall, repectively.