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| Nebyou Minassie |
This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster men's tennis team is the sixth seed for this week's North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament and faces third-seeded DePauw University in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 26 at 1 p.m. The NCAC Tournament is taking place April 26-28 at North Central High School in Indianapolis, Ind.
Media Coverage: Fans can follow the men's tennis team's Twitter account @Wooster10s for periodic updates and @WoosterSports for end-of-day results.
Last Meeting: Wooster (7-12, 1-2 NCAC East) played at DePauw (9-9, 3-1 NCAC West) on March 11 in a contest that was won by the Tigers 7-2. First-year Alon Liberman (Montevideo, Uruguay) was victorious at No. 3 singles, 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (7), while first-year Austin Hanna (Seville, Ohio/Cloverleaf) and fellow rookie Nebyou Minassie (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) took the third doubles flight 8-7 (2).
Rookie Success: Liberman topped Denison University's Mitchell Thai 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 on March 30. Coupled with his 8-5 win with sophomore Joaquin Abos Amo (Ayegui, Spain) at No. 2 doubles, Liberman's the first Scot to win at both singles and doubles against NCAC power Denison since Brian Ebbitts did so in 2007.
Mr. Clutch: Wooster's 5-4 win over Principia College, which capped the Scots' spring trip to California, came down to No. 4 singles where junior Nathan Devereux (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) steered the Black and Gold across the finish with a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory. More recently, Devereux went 4-0 on April 20 in matches against nationally-ranked Case Western Reserve University and regionally-ranked Hope College.
Against Div. II, It's Been Coming Down to No. 5: Wooster's logged three 5-4 scores against Div. II Walsh University over the last four dual matches with the Cavaliers, and the Scots are 2-1 in said matches. Wooster's two wins have both been clinched at No. 5 singles, where this year, Liberman delivered a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Joao Campos. Wooster found itself down 4-3 in this year's Walsh match before Minassie tied it with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Senior Leadership: Jesse DeWitt (Brooksville, Fla./Nature Coast Technical) is the elder statesman on this year's team, as he's the lone senior. DeWitt's filled a variety of roles during his four years with the program. His key highlights include all-conference honors in doubles as a junior, and clinching a 5-4 win over the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a sophomore, in a match in which he rallied back to win 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (8).
Tournament History: Wooster and DePauw have met once previously in the NCAC Tournament, with the Tigers taking that quarterfinal match 5-0 in 2015. The winner of Friday's match will face the winner of second-seeded Denison University and seventh-seeded Wittenberg University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.