ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst men's tennis team scored its second consecutive CCIW Championship and secured its first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships by defeating Wheaton College 5-4.

Elmhurst (16-4) opened play by winning two of the three doubles matches. Wheaton's Josh Ward and Ryan Kries defeated Elmhurst's Alex Harbert and Will Jung 8-3 at No. 1 doubles, but the Bluejays won the next two contests to take a 2-1 lead. Luke Tanaka and Chris Harrison toppled Matt Steiner and Justin Ancona 8-5 at No. 2 doubles and Vincent McPherson and Quinn Jennings followed with an 8-5 victory over David Buusma and Derek Mumaw at No. 3. doubles.

Elmhurst extended its lead to 4-1 early in singles play as Tanaka blanked Steiner 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles and Harrison dispatched Andrew Trump 6-0, 6-2 at No. 6 singles. Tanaka closed the CCIW Championships by winning his final 23 games played.

Wheaton (18-6) sliced into the Bluejays' lead by winning the next two matches. Ward upended McPherson 6-2, 7-5 at No. 3 singles and Buursma toppled Jenning 7-6, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.

Wheaton pulled even with the Bluejays after Justin Ancona edged Will Jung in three sets 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. at No. 2 singles.

Harbert closed up the win for the Bluejays with a thrilling-three set win over Kreis at No. 1 singles. Trailing 5-1 in an opening set tiebreaker, Harbert won the next five points before taking the tiebreaker 8-6 to win the opening set. After dropping the second set to Kreis 3-6, Harbert broke Kreis three times in the third set to finish off the 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 victory.

With the win, the Bluejays earned the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, marking the team's first-ever trip to the NCAA postseason. The NCAA Championship field and bracket will be announced on Monday, May 5.