Jorrit de Rouw

Saeed Husain

The College of Wooster men's tennis team ramped up the intensity in singles play, and won five of the six flights to top North Coast Athletic Conference rival Wittenberg University 6-3 in a non-conference cross-divisional battle on Saturday evening at the Schroeder Tennis Center in Tipp City, Ohio.

Wooster (7-8, 0-0 NCAC East Division) trailed 2-1 at the conclusion of doubles, but big contributions from flights four through six in singles quickly righted the ship, and pulled the Fighting Scots within a point of clinching the win. In fact, the trio of sophomore Nathan Devereux, first-year Jorrit de Rouw, and first-year Saeed Husain dropped a combined six games over six sets to make it a 4-2 match. Devereux tied the match with a 6-1, 6-0 win out of the fourth flight, and de Rouw quickly backed that up with a 6-0, 6-3 victory to put the Scots on top. Husain rounded out the bottom half of the flights with a key 6-1, 6-1 win.

First-year Joaquin Abos Amo officially clinched the match at No. 2 singles. The rookie topped Wittenberg's (1-4, 0-1 NCAC West Division) Luke Minard 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-4.

Senior Titas Bera, who checked in at No. 8 – his highest ranking ever – in the latest Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Div. III Men's Central Regional Rankings, dropped his first set against Wittenberg's Martin Mora 6-3, but the Scots' veteran bounced back with 7-5 and 6-3 scores over the final two sets to secure the win. Bera's win marked his 66th career in singles action, and he's now tied with W Association Hall of Famer Warren Cham-A-Koon for the sixth-most in program history.

In doubles, Abos Amo and Devereux blanked Wittenberg 8-0 in the second flight.

Next, Wooster opens up league play against 39th-ranked Oberlin College (7-7, 0-0 NCAC East Division) at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 7.