Men’s Tennis: Ohio Northern (22-4 Overall) at NCAA III Tournament First, Second and Third Rounds
Friday-Sunday, May 13-15, 2022 - Carlton Courts, Cleveland, Ohio
| NCAA III Tournament page | Regional Tournament page |
Tournament Preview: Ohio Northern is traveling to Case Western Reserve to compete in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Tournament against Grove City (Pa.) on Friday at 9 a.m. at Carlton Courts … The winner will face No. 2 Case Western Reserve in the Second Round on Saturday at 9 a.m. … On the other side of the bracket at host CWRU, Kalamazoo (Mich.) faces Nazareth (Pa.) on Friday at approximately 11:30 a.m. with the winner playing #39 Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday at approximately 11:30 a.m. … Saturday's winners will face off in the Third Round on Sunday at noon for the right to advance to the quarterfinals on Monday, May 23, in Orlando, Fla. … In the case of inclement weather, Friday's matches will begin at noon at Mayfield Village Racquet Club, and Saturday's matches will be played at 2 and 4 p.m. at Cleveland State's Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion … In the case of inclement weather on Sunday, the match will begin at 3:30 p.m. at Cleveland State … The Polar Bears are coming off Saturday's 5-3 OAC Tournament championship victory over John Carroll at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason that earned them the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament … As the OAC Regular Season champion, Northern was the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, and the victory over No. 2 seed John Carroll was the Polar Bears' school-record 22nd of the season … JCU had won the previous six conference tournament titles … ONU won the tournament championship for the first time since 2013 and the 11th time in program history … Northern won 5-0 over Concordia (Wis.) in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament before falling 5-0 to Trinity (Tex.) in the second round … Against JCU on Saturday, senior Zach Beaschler and sophomore Drew Swisher won 8-6 at No. 3 doubles … Beaschler won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6 singles, freshman Tristan Munteanu won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5 singles, freshman Sam Sran won 7-6(5), 6-3 at No. 3 singles, and freshman Peyton Specht won 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles to clinch the match … ONU is currently riding a nine-match win streak and has not lost since March 26 … Beaschler leads ONU in overall wins this season with 36 followed by Specht and Swisher with 33 and 32, respectively … Sran has a team-best 22 singles victories this season … Swisher leads the team in doubles wins with 21 followed by Beaschler with 20 … Fifth-year senior Vinh Thai is 16-6 in singles and 14-11 in doubles this season for an overall mark of 30-17 … In his ONU career, Thai is 54-30 in singles and 53-38 in doubles for an overall mark of 107-68 … Grove City (Pa.) enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 16-2 after winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament championship with Saturday's 5-1 victory over Saint Vincent (Pa.) to earn an automatic bid … Saturday's win marked the Wolverines' second straight PAC Tournament title and 29th in program history … Senior Karsten Lagerquist was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after getting a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles and an 8-6 victory at No. 1 doubles with junior Ryne Talko … Grove City advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round in 2021 … GCC has won 13 straight matches and is making its eighth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament … ONU and GCC each went 3-0 against Franciscan, Mount Union and Otterbein during the regular season with the Polar Bears winning by a combined score of 26-1 and GCC winning by a combined score of 22-5 … ONU and GCC both lost to Wooster during the regular season with the former falling 6-3 and the latter falling 8-1 … Case Western Reserve enters the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 2 nationally with a 21-4 record … The Spartans finished as the runner-up to No. 1 Chicago (Ill.) in the University Athletic Association Tournament and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament … That marked CWRU's first loss of the season to a Division III opponent … The Spartans are making their fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history … CWRU finished as the national runner-up in 2021 … Freshman Ansh Shah (25) and sophomore Vishwa Aduru (21) lead the team in singles wins on the season … Junior James Hopper and graduate student Jonathan Powell are 14-3 at No. 1 doubles, and Aduru and sophomore Sahil Dayal are 9-4 at No. 2 doubles.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
Singles Wins | Doubles Wins | Overall Wins | ||||||||
1. | Sran | 22-6 | 1. | Swisher | 21-4 | 1. | Beaschler | 36-5 | ||
2. | Specht | 19-4 | 2. | Beaschler | 20-3 | 2. | Specht | 33-12 | ||
3. | Beaschler | 16-2 | 3. | Cochran | 18-6 | 3. | Swisher | 32-8 | ||
Thai | 16-6 |
Series Record: Ohio Northern is 1-0 all-time against Grove City (Pa.), getting a 9-0 win in September 2019 at the Allegheny (Pa.) Invitational … ONU is 1-3 all-time against Case Western Reserve … The teams last met in March 2013 with CWRU getting a 9-0 victory in the Hope/Kalamazoo Shootout.
Head Coach Mike Bonnell: Bonnell is in his sixth season as head coach of the Polar Bears with a 71-40 record, a winning percentage of .640 ... He is 194-98 in 15 seasons overall at Ohio Dominican, Methodist (N.C.) and Ohio Northern for a .664 winning percentage.