Titas Bera

A valiant comeback effort by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology spoiled a potential undefeated weekend for The College of Wooster men's tennis team, as the Fightin' Engineers, down 4-1 nearly midway through singles play, fought back to a 5-4 win over the Fighting Scots on Sunday afternoon at the Fairborn Community Park outside of Dayton, Ohio.

Wooster (6-12) took a 2-1 lead after doubles with wins at the top two spots. Seniors Jack Buchan and Davis Elkins, who became the winningest doubles pair in program history on Friday, won 8-5 at No. 1 over the ninth-ranked team in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Central Region while junior Titas Bera and sophomore Jesse DeWitt won 8-6 at No. 2.

As a team, Rose-Hulman (10-5) came into the match as the 15th-ranked team in the region.

First to shake hands in singles was Elkins, who claimed a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 3. Continuing to roll at the top spot was Bera – the 16th-ranked singles player in the region and winner of four of his last five matches – as he defeated regionally-ranked Georges Adam in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, to give Wooster a 4-1 lead with the No. 2, 4, 5, and 6 positions remaining.

After dropping the first set, 2-6, Buchan battled back and won the second, 7-5, but Rose-Hulman's Brandon Benedict closed the match with a 6-0 third set win at the No. 2 position.

At No. 4, DeWitt opened with a 6-4 first-set win against Andre Adam before going down a break and losing the second set, 5-7, to draw level. Adam took the third set, 6-2, bringing Rose-Hulman to within one point of the Scots.

At No. 6, junior Andrew Long fell 0-6, 1-6, as first-year Nathan Devereux was the last man standing at No. 5. Unable to rebound from a late break in the second set, the first-year lost 3-6, 5-7.

Up next, Wooster opens North Coast Athletic Conference East Division play on Saturday, April 8 at Oberlin College (11-7, 1-0 NCAC East) at 9 a.m. before facing No. 12 Case Western Reserve University (14-4) at 1 p.m. at Oberlin, Ohio.