Men's Tennis sees season come to an end in second round of NCAA Tournament with loss to No. 8 Carnegie Mellon (Pa.)

By Tim Glon

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Ohio Northern men's tennis team's season came to an end as it lost to Region host No. 8 Carnegie Mellon 5-0 Friday afternoon.

The Polar Bears finish their season at 20-3 overall while the Tartans improve to 20-5 overall.

The doubles matches were interrupted due to weather and the match was moved to Monroeville, Pa.

Ohio Northern's No. 1 doubles pair of sophomore Nick Kowalczyk and freshman Joey Frank trailed 4-0 prior to the rain delay but battled back before falling 8-4.

The exact same situation happened for junior Jeff Carter and sophomore Andrew Korba in No. 2 doubles.

"While we fell behind quickly, our team did not panic," ONU coach Bob Rohan said. "During the delay, our team settled down and were able to be very competitive for the remainder of the matches."

In No. 2 singles, Kowalczyk won the only set for Ohio Northern on the afternoon as he split the first two sets with Carnegie Mellon's Bobby MacTaggart 6-1, 3-6.

The Polar Bears set school records this season with their 20 overall wins and 18 consecutive victories.

"The one word to use for this team is 'resilient," Rohan said. "Whether we were ahead of behind in a match this season, this team remained very disciplined and focused throughout. No matter what the results have been, this team was in every match of the season and that's a great accomplishment."