Men's Tennis wins OAC Regular Season title with 5-4 victory over John Carroll

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's tennis team captured the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season title with a 5-4 victory over John Carroll in a battle of league unbeatens on Friday afternoon at the West Campus Courts.

The Polar Bears improve to 20-4 overall and won the OAC title with a 6-0 record, while the Blue Streaks fall to 8-8, 5-1.

With the win, ONU also ran its winning streak to seven matches.

The championship is the 10th in program history for the Polar Bears and their first since 2013.

Northern clinched the top seed and a first round bye in the OAC Tournament with the win and will move on to the semifinals on May 6 at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason.

The Polar Bears also ended John Carroll's 61-match OAC regular season winning streak.

Ohio Northern began the match by taking two of the three doubles courts to grab a 2-1 lead.

Senior Zach Beaschler (Ada) and sophomore Drew Swisher (Findlay) started the match by winning 8-1 at No. 3 doubles and senior Andrew Cochran (Wooster) and freshman Peyton Specht (Munster, Ind.) won 8-5 at No. 2 doubles to give ONU a 2-1 lead.

Beaschler made it 3-1 with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles.

After a JCU win at No. 1 singles, Specht grabbed his second win of the day with a 6-2, 6-4 decision at No. 4 singles and it was 4-2 ONU.

Freshman Tristan Munteanu (Draper, Utah/Corner Canyon) clinched the championship with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles.

"I am very happy for our team, especially for our seniors," ONU head coach Mike Bonnell said. "They came into this program and were a major factor in getting us back to where we want to be. Our younger guys also came through for us today and had some clutch performances."