Men's Tennis advances to title match of OAC Tournament with 6-3 victory over John Carroll
By Tim Glon
MASON — Second-seeded Ohio Northern moved into the finals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament with a 6-3 victory over third-seeded John Carroll in the semifinals on a chilly Friday afternoon at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 12-7 overall, while the Blue Streaks end their season with a 6-11 record.
Northern will face top-seeded Otterbein in the championship match on Saturday morning at 10 am at the Lindner Center. ONU will be gunning for its 12th OAC Tournament title in school history and an automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament.
The Polar Bears took a 2-1 lead after doubles play.
Sophomore Sam Sran (Punjab, India/St. Stephens and Gian Jyoti Global) and freshman T.J. Schultz (Grand Blanc, Mich.) won 8-4 at No. 1 doubles and sophomores Peyton Specht (Munster, Ind.) and Drew Swisher (Findlay) won 8-3 at No. 2 doubles to give ONU a 2-0 lead.
JCU won the No. 3 doubles court 8-6.
The Blue Streaks tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles.
Swisher gave ONU a 3-2 lead with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles, but JCU tied it at 3-3 with a 6-1, 0-6, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles.
The end of the match came quickly as the final three matches ended within two minutes of each other.
Northern went back ahead 4-3 when freshman Nico Rogel (Alicante, Spain/Hoosac) won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6.
The Polar Bears then clinched the match moments later as junior Kavya Desai (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Specht won their singles matches simultaneously. Desai won 6-4, 7-6(4) to clinch the match and Specht followed seconds later with a 6-3, 7-5 win.
The Polar Bears won their 11th OAC Regular Season title in school history and their second in a row last week, tying Otterbein and John Carroll with identical 5-1 league records.
Otterbein advanced to the finals with a 5-1 victory over No. 4 Baldwin Wallace.
