Craig Deng

The College of Wooster men's tennis team traveled to Greencastle, Ind. for a Saturday doubleheader against Centre College and No. 34 DePauw University, as the Fighting Scots lost 2-7 to the Colonels before falling 0-9 to the host team Tigers.

In the opener, Wooster (4-6) took a 2-1 lead after doubles play against the Colonels. At the top spot, the senior pair of Jack Buchan and Davis Elkins won 8-3, and stepping in at No. 3 was first-year Craig Deng, who along with junior Titas Bera rallied to an 8-4 win.

In singles, Centre (2-2) regained the overall lead as junior Andrew Long (1-6, 0-6) and Deng (0-6, 2-6) fell at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Leveling it up at 3-3 was Bera at No. 1, as the junior took down Logan Henize, 6-1, 6-0.

In a tight two-setter at No. 3 singles, Elkins put away Luke Brooks in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6 (5), while Buchan fell in straights, 4-6, 4-6, to even it up at 4-4 with first-year Nathan Devereux playing in the decisive No. 4 match.

The first-year won the first set, 6-3, before dropping the second by the same count. In the third set, which was played out, Devereux fell down a break early before leveling it at 2-2. In the next game, Centre's Matthew Ko broke back and won the next two games before clinching the match with a 6-3 win in the third.

Against 34th-ranked DePauw (3-3), Buchan and Elkins lost, 6-8, to DePauw's Patrick Ferrell and Dan Rodefeld, the ninth-ranked team in the ITA Central Region. Falling by the same count at No. 2 doubles was Bera and sophomore Jesse DeWitt. At No. 3, Devereux and Long lost 4-8.

The Tigers took all six points in singles play, with Bera (0-6, 5-7) and Buchan (3-6, 5-7) losing in the top two spots, respectively. DeWitt retired at No. 4 due to illness while Elkins (3-6, 1-6), Devereux (2-6, 1-6) and Long (0-6, 3-6) lost at the third, fifth and sixth positions respectively.

Up next, the Scots take on Vassar College (5-2) and Biola University (2-4) on March 17 at Orange, Calif.