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| Jack Buchan |
The College of Wooster men's tennis team fell 7-2 to the University of Findlay, a NCAA Div. II opponent, at the Findlay YMCA East Branch before traveling east to Lexington, Ohio, where the Fighting Scots topped regional foe Heidelberg University in convincing fashion 8-1 to open the program's spring schedule on Saturday.
Against Heidelberg (0-2), first-year Jae Lee clinched the winning point at six singles, cruising over Heidelberg's Alex Sprague in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, to help the Scots come away with their first victory of the year.
Rounding out the other five singles spots, in which the Scots (1-2) took four of five – all in straight sets – were senior Jack Buchan at the top spot, followed by sophomore Jesse DeWitt at two singles, first-year Nathan Devereux at three, junior Andrew Long in the fourth spot and first-year Craig Deng in the fifth.
Of note, Devereux did not drop a game, winning 6-0, 6-0 over Dan Driscoll, while Deng was the only Scot to fall in singles action, dropping in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to Tate Schoen.
The Scots swept doubles play, with Buchan and classmate Davis Elkins taking down Ben Moore and Tyler Flickinger, 8-3, followed by first-years Jae Lee and Craig Deng winning 8-2 in the No. 3 spot while junior Andrew Long and first-year Nathan Devereux won at No. 2, 8-1.
Against Findlay (3-0), Buchan won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles over Carlos Blanco as the lone singles point for the Scots in a match that was tighter than the scoreline indicated, as three singles matches went to third-set super tiebreakers, including Bera at No. 1, Elkins at No. 3 and DeWitt at No. 4.
In what was the tightest singles loss of the match, Bera rallied from a set down (2-6) to take the second, 6-4, before falling in the super tiebreaker, 11-9. Elkins rallied from down a set to win the second, 6-2, before losing 10-3 in the third, while DeWitt continued the trend, coming back from a set down with a controlling second set (6-1) before falling 10-4 in the third.
In doubles, the pair of Bera and DeWitt claimed the lone point at the No. 2 spot, topping Findlay's duo Nicholas Kopylec and Ivaylo Slavov, 9-8 (5), in the pro-set tiebreaker.
The Scots return to action on Saturday, Feb. 11 against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (9 a.m.) and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (4 p.m.) at the Premier Tennis & Fitness Club in Janesville, Wis.