Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Box Score vs. CNU l
Box Score vs. CMU
Pittsburgh, PA – The Oberlin College men's tennis team nearly knocked off No. 28 Christopher Newport, before falling to No. 7 Carnegie Mellon, 9-0, on its final day of fall competition on Sunday afternoon.
The Yeomen, who are ranked No. 40 in the country, pushed the Captains to the brink before succumbing to the 5-4 setback.
"It was a good end to the fall," Head Coach
Eric Ishida said. "We tested ourselves against two highly-ranked teams and battled all day long. I really liked what I saw from our guys and I am excited for the spring."
Oberlin led the match 4-3 with No. 4 and No. 2 singles still in action. The Yeomen needed at least one of those results to go in their favor to secure the match win, but the Captains were able to outlast the Yeomen in each spot.
In the fourth position Andy Mason got by
Manickam Manickam 6-1, 6-2. The last match to finish was No. 2 battle between Justin Cerny and Yeomen rookie
Stephen Gruppuso. The Oberlin newcomer took the first 6-3 before dropping the second by the same score line. In the match-deciding third set, Gruppuso was fighting through cramps, but fought till the end before falling 7-5.
The Yeomen went into singles play with a 2-1 lead after doubles action, winning at flights one and three. In the top position,
Ian Paik and
Jeremy Lichtmacher gutted out a 9-7 win over Cerny and David Reed. At No. 3 Gruppuso and fellow freshman
Camron Cohen took down Andy Mason and William Trang by an 8-5 count.
At No. 2
Robert Gittings and
Abraham Davis were bested 8-5 by Michael Dodd and Arttu Fiva.
Cohen was a double winner in his first collegiate dual match as his No. 6 singles bout was the first to finish as he earned a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Fiva.
Davis followed with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Nicholas Ruzicka at No. 3 singles, but the Captains won at the remaining four spots.
Dominic Lacombe got the best of
Matthew Gittings at No. 5, winning a three-set affair 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 and Reed took down Paik in the top flight 6-0, 6-2 before Mason and Cerny completed the comeback.
In the second match of the day the Tartans proved why they are one of the best teams in the country with a blanking of the upstart Yeomen.
The lone singles match to go three sets was the No. 3 battle between Kenny Zheng and Manickam, but he fell 6-3, 4-6, 9-2.
In the lead flight No. 24 Daniel Levine upended Paik 6-3, 6-2.
At No. 1 doubles the 10
th-ranked pairing of Vayum Arora and Daniel Levine took down Paik and Lichtmacher 8-3.
The Yeomen will rest up for the winter before returning to action on January 30 against Indiana Tech.
