Season Review: Men’s Tennis reaches new heights in 2021-22

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's tennis team put together an outstanding 2021-22 season.

Not only did the Polar Bears secure their fifth straight winning season, but they did so with a program-record 23 victories.

Under sixth-year head coach Mike Bonnell, who was named the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Northern finished 23-5 overall and was a perfect 6-0 in conference play. The Polar Bears won their eighth OAC Regular Season championship and 11th OAC Tournament championship in program history, marking the first time since 2013 that they had won either title.

After earning a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament, ONU defeated Grove City (Pa.) with ease in the opening round before its season came to an end at the hands of the eventual national runner-up in Case Western Reserve.

"This was the greatest single season that I have ever been a part of," Bonnell said. "Setting a school record for team wins obviously speaks for itself. It's an amazing feeling going from thinking and hoping you have the right pieces in place to seeing your seniors hoist the hardware at the end. They completely deserved this, and I am utterly happy for them."

As the success indicates, the Polar Bears' 2021-22 roster was stocked with talent. The group included three seniors, one junior, two sophomores and four freshmen, and eight of those 10 players earned All-OAC recognition.

Fifth-year senior Vinh Thai (Galloway/St. Charles) and senior Andrew Cochran (Wooster) were each named First Team All-Conference.

Thai, the 2018-19 OAC Player of the Year, is now a four-time All-OAC First Team selection. A three-time OAC Player of the Week this season, Thai was 16-6 in singles and 15-12 in doubles and became the 23rd member of ONU's 100-Win Club. Over five seasons at ONU, he is 54-30 in singles and 54-39 in doubles for an overall mark of 108-69. He joined the 100-Win Club with an 8-2 triumph at No. 1 doubles in the Polar Bears' win over Marietta on April 16 and ranks 18th all-time at ONU in overall career victories.

Cochran was 12-12 in singles and 19-8 in doubles for an overall mark of 31-20 this season en route to earning All-OAC First Team honors for the second straight year. He was also selected to the 2021-22 At-Large Academic All-America Second Team and All-District 7 First Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. In four years at ONU, Cochran is 85-50 overall, including 42-26 in singles and 44-24 in doubles.

The Polar Bears added four All-OAC Second Team selections this season in senior Zach Beaschler (Ada) and freshmen Sam Sran (PB, India/St. Stephens and Gian Jyoti Global), Peyton Specht (Munster, Ind.) and Tristan Munteanu (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon).

Beaschler led the team in overall wins this season, ranked second in doubles victories and third in singles wins. He was 17-2 in singles and 21-4 in doubles for an overall record of 38-6. An All-OAC Honorable Mention pick as a freshman, Beaschler is now a two-time All-Conference Second Team selection after earning the accolade last season. He boasts a career record of 91-37, including 41-19 in singles and 50-18 in doubles.

Sran led the Polar Bears in singles victories in what was his first season at ONU. He was 22-7 in singles and 3-3 in doubles for an overall mark of 25-10.

Specht, another first-year player, earned a pair of OAC Player of the Week accolades this season and finished second on the team in singles wins and overall victories. He closed the year with a 35-13 overall record, including 20-4 in singles and 15-9 in doubles.

Munteanu was the third Polar Bear freshman to earn All-OAC Second Team honors this season. He was 10-6 in singles and 1-4 in doubles for an overall mark of 11-10.

Junior Matt Garcia (Downers Grove, Ill./South) and freshman Drew Swisher (Findlay) rounded out Northern's 2021-22 All-OAC selections as Honorable Mention picks.

Garcia, who earned All-Conference Second Team honors as a sophomore, was 4-1 in singles and 14-12 in doubles for an overall record of 18-13 this season.

Swisher closed his first season at ONU as the team leader in doubles wins while ranking third in overall victories. He was 33-9 overall, including 11-4 in singles and 22-5 in doubles.

As a group, the Polar Bears opened the season with a 5-2 loss at Division II Cedarville before rattling off four straight victories by a combined score of 32-4 to close out the fall portion of their schedule. They went 2-2 in February but closed the regular season by winning 14 of their final 15 matches. A 9-0 loss at then-No. 14 Denison broke up a pair of seven-match win streaks in that closing stretch.

As the OAC Regular Season champion, Northern earned a first-round bye in the conference tournament and proceeded to get a 5-1 win over Baldwin Wallace in the semifinals. The Polar Bears then defeated John Carroll 5-3 for the tournament championship, earning them an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The 5-0 win over Grove City (Pa.) marked their first NCAA Tournament victory since their last appearance in the event in 2013.

"Restoring this program to prominence in the conference, region and nation has always been the goal, and I'm proud of the way we do it," Bonnell said. "The trip to the NCAA Tournament was just the best ending to a deserving group. We lose a lot of senior leadership going into next year, but the younger guys now understand what it will take to get there again."

The Polar Bears were successful off the courts this season as well, as six players earned Academic All-OAC recognition. That group included Beaschler, Garcia, Cochran, Swisher and sophomores Kavya Desai (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Isaac Spar (Ada). Cochran is now a three-time Academic All-OAC honoree, and Beaschler has earned the accolade twice in his career.

Beaschler, Cochran, Garcia, Desai, Spar, Munteanu, Specht, Sran and Swisher were also selected as Scholar Athletes by the International Tennis Association Scholar Athlete in 2021, and the Polar Bears were named an ITA Scholar All-America Team.

Additionally, Cochran capped his year by earning an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which he will use toward continuing his education working toward a PhD in computer and electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Looking ahead to next season, Bonnell is hoping to see similar on- and off-court results from his squad.

"There is always excitement about building the roster again that can compete at the level we want to be at. Our team depth is really what set us apart from other teams last year, and now, some of those same individuals will have to take a larger role and potentially play higher in the lineup," Bonnell said. "Increased expectations, and added pressure, will fall on them, but I have confidence that our guys will respond. This is what college athletics is supposed to be about, and I know that we all can't wait to get the new season underway."