Men's Tennis Ends 2011NCAC Tournament with Fourth-Place Finish

4/30/2011

Box Score

OBERLIN, Ohio – After winning their opening round match a day ago at the 2011 NCAC Tournament against Wittenberg, and losing to Denison a few hours later, the Gators (12-6, 2-1 NCAC East) entered the final day of the tournament matched up against Wabash College to determine who would earn a third-place finish in the tournament. The two teams battled one another closely, particularly in singles play, but Wabash was able to capitalize on an early 3-0 lead though doubles play to take the decision, 5-3, with one match remaining on court.

The Little Giants (18-10, 2-1 NCAC East) were very impressive to start the match as they were able to sweep the three doubles matches with relative ease, pacing them to the big early lead. After taking the first singles decision at flight five, the Little Giants jumped to within a point of taking the match, 4-0.

The Gators, however, showed a lot of resolve, and battled back strong as they rattled off three consecutive singles wins at flights one, four, and six. The first two winning matches for the Gators came in dominating fashion as Patrick Cole at flight one, and Charlie Murphy at flight four, won their respective matches in straight sets. Cole, the reigning NCAC Player of the Week dropped only one game in his singles match.

With the team match at 4-3 in favor of Wabash, the remaining two matches, flights two and three, came down to the wire. Unfortunately for the Gators, Jacob Allmaras' impressive, in-progress match at flight three singles went unfinished as Mike Provenzano's match at flight two reached a decision in favor of the Little Giants, giving them the match-clinching point, and putting a halt to the team match.

The loss ends the Gators season with a fourth-place finish in the NCAC Tournament.