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.