The Franklin men's tennis team ventured to Bloomington, Illinois on Saturday for its first two matches of the spring season.

The Grizzlies came away with a split, suffering a close 4-3 loss to Illinois Wesleyan before bouncing back with a 6-1 victory over Webster.

Against Illinois Wesleyan, Franklin (4-4) lost the doubles point despite Clark Hersam and Jaden Wells pushing their opponents to 7-5 in the No. 1 spot and Brendan Hanner and Luke Morris going to a tiebreaker in the No. 3 position. The Grizzlies then split the six singles points, getting victories from Wells at No. 3 (6-4, 6-4), Raymond Richard at No. 5 (7-5, 6-2) and Avram Rund at No. 6 (6-3, 6-1).

The Griz fared far better in the second match. Hersam and Wells were a 7-6 (4) winner at first doubles, helping the team secure that initial point. In singles, Hersam followed with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the first position and Cox was a 6-4, 6-3 winner at No. 2. Brian Vennemann gutted out a 6-1, 2-6, 10-6 triumph at fourth singles to clinch the match.

Franklin plays two more road matches this coming weekend, traveling to Wabash (Feb. 21) and Millikin (Feb. 22).