Men's Tennis wins second consecutive OAC Tournament crown with 5-2 victory over top-seeded Otterbein in finals
By Tim Glon
MASON — Ohio Northern won its second consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament title with a 5-2 victory over top-seeded Otterbein in the finals on Saturday morning at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
The second-seeded Polar Bears improve to 13-7 overall and claim the OAC's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament with the victory.
The Cardinals end their season with a 14-6 record.
The OAC Tournament title is the 12th in program history for Ohio Northern.
ONU, OU and John Carroll all shared the OAC Regular Season crown with 5-1 league records, marking the eighth time ONU has won both trophies in the same season.
The Polar Bears took a 2-1 lead after doubles play.
Junior Kavya Desai (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and sophomore Tristan Munteanu (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon) won 8-4 and No. 3 doubles and sophomores Peyton Specht (Munster, Ind.) and Drew Swisher (Findlay) won 8-5 at No. 2 doubles for ONU.
Freshman Nico Rogel (Alicante, Spain/Hoosac) made it 3-1 with a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles.
OU won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 singles to get within 3-2, but Swisher extended the lead to 4-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles.
Specht iced the championship with a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles.
Sophomore Sam Sran (Punjab, India/St. Stephens and Gian Jyoti Global) was winning 6-1, 1-6, 2-1 at No. 2 singles and Desai was leading 6-4, 3-6, 3-2 at No. 4 singles when the match was stopped.
The NCAA III Tournament selection show will be streamed live on Monday at Noon on NCAA.com.