4/29/2011Box Scores: Wittenberg -- Denison
OBERLIN, Ohio – Day one of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament produced mixed results for the Allegheny men's tennis team as they came away with head coach, Jared Luteran's 200th career victory in a 5-3 win over Wittenberg in their first match, but were unable to record a decision against Denison in the nightcap on Friday at Oberlin College, the host of the NCAC Tournament. The win, however, in their first match, ensured the Gators (12-5, 2-1 NCAC East) would finish in the top-four of the conference by tournament's end.
OBERLIN, Ohio – Day one of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament produced mixed results for the Allegheny men's tennis team as they came away with head coach, Jared Luteran's 200th career victory in a 5-3 win over Wittenberg in their first match, but were unable to record a decision against Denison in the nightcap on Friday at Oberlin College, the host of the NCAC Tournament. The win, however, in their first match, ensured the Gators (12-5, 2-1 NCAC East) would finish in the top-four of the conference by tournament's end.
The first match of the day for the Gators against Wittenberg was a thrilling match that was not decided until the tail end of the match. With wins at flights one and three doubles, the Gators took a 2-1 lead heading into singles play. Given the tournament atmosphere, the match was played to decision, so the Gators needed three singles wins out of the six potential matches to record the win.
The Tigers would make the match interesting picking up wins in flights three and four to keep themselves within a reasonable distance to try and take away the win and advance in the upper portion of the tournament bracket.
A dominating win by Patrick Cole at flight one , and a big win at flight five by Max Sosa, 6-3, 6-2, put the Gators ahead in the match 4-2 with two matches remaining on court. Flight two singles would be the deciding match. Playing at flight two for the Gators, sophomore Mike Provenzano, dropped a close first set 4-6, but forced a third set with a win in the second set, 6-3. In the decisive third set, Provenzano and his opponent Sergio Fishkin played each other really close, and took that set past the usual six-game decision. Provenzano would come away on top in the match, however, by winning the third set 7-5.
One match, flight six singles, was left on court at the time the Gators wrapped up the team match. The win in their opening match was huge for the Gators as it assured them a top-four finish in the conference tournament. Also noteworthy in the win was the career milestone achieved by head coach Jared Luteran, as he notched his 200th career victory as a head coach.
A 5-0 loss to the hands of Denison in their second match of the day put the Gators in the third-place match against Wabash College on Saturday, April 29th. That match is set to be played at 11:00 a.m.
