Men's Tennis stays unbeaten in OAC with 7-2 victory over John Carroll in rematch of last year's OAC Tournament final
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's tennis team improved to 2-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a key 7-2 victory over John Carroll in a rematch of last year's OAC Tournament finals match on Thursday afternoon at West Campus Courts.
The Polar Bears improve to 8-6 overall and are 2-0 in the OAC, while the Blue Streaks fall to 2-11, 2-1.
All nine matches were highly competitive with ONU winning two of the three singles contests and five of the six singles courts.
Sophomore Tristan Munteanu (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon) and freshman T.J. Schultz (Grand Blanc, Mich.) got the hosts off to a 1-0 lead with an 8-5 victory at No. 2 doubles and sophomore Drew Swisher (Findlay) and freshman Nico Rogel (Alicante, Spain/Hoosac) followed with an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles to make it 2-0.
John Carroll won 8-7(3) to grab the No. 1 doubles point, then tied the match 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-3 a win at No. 1 singles.
Sophomore Sam Sran (Punjab, India/St. Stephens and Gian Jyoti Global) won 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to put ONU ahead 3-2.
The Nos. 4-5-6 courts finished within minutes of each other, with junior Kavya Desai (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Swisher and Rogel all winning 6-4, 6-3 to put Ohio Northern up 6-2 and ice the match.
It took nearly an hour more for the contest to wrap up as sophomore Peyton Specht (Munster, Ind.) edged JCU's Grant Sarnowski 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 10-8 at No. 2 singles in an entertaining and well-played final match.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday with a 3:30 pm at Otterbein.
