Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's tennis team opened up the spring season against the 14th-ranked Tartans of Carnegie Mellon University and put up a promising fight against the national power in a 7-2 defeat. They would return in the evening to drop a 4-3 decision to Division II Ashland.
 
Carnegie Mellon Recap
The Yeomen, who entered the spring unranked, challenged the high-powered Tartans across all nine positions.
 
Oberlin's top doubles duo of Camron Cohen and Sean Billerbeck easily got by the pairing of Matthew Poh and Robert Levin, 8-2. The second and third flights went to the Tartans by matching 8-5 counts.
 
Oberlin ace Stephen Gruppuso did not play in singles, thus forcing Cohen into the No. 1 slot against the nation's seventh-ranked player, Ray Boppana, who got the better of the Yeomen senior with a pair of 6-1 wins.
 
Sophomore James Dill picked up Oberlin's lone singles win as he took down Levin in three sets in the second flight. After winning the first set 7-5, Dill dropped the second 6-1 to force a super-breaker but the Chicago native regrouped to win the decisive set, 10-4.
 
The first sets for Elliot Nuss and Billerbeck were both close at No. 3 and No. 4, but their Tiger foes would win rather easily in the second sets of each match to clinch the victory.
 
Yeomen Sophomore Henry Bulkey had match point at No. 5 against Joshua Pinckney as he won the first set 6-4 and held a 5-4 lead in the second before Pinckney rallied with three straight points to force a third set. With momentum now on his side, Pinckney finished off the match with a 10-7 win.
 
Ashland Recap
The Eagles used their athleticism to get by the Yeomen in a closely contested battle.
 
Oberlin nearly took two of three doubles matches, which would have resulted in them earning the one team point that is available in the 7-point scoring system. Dill and Buckley were 6-4 winners over Hung Huynh and Tche Kun Teng at No. 2 and the No 3 tandem of Nuss and Benjamin Echikson nearly got by Priyank Soni and Jacob Hoffman before falling in a tiebreak, 7-6 (5-0).
 
The Yeomen trailed 3-0 after falling in the first and fourth flights of singles. However, Dill was able to secure his second win of the day by dispatching Huynh in straight sets, winning 6-3, 6-1.
 
Oberlin would even the match at 3-3 with hard-fought wins in the fifth and sixth positions. At No. 5, Billerbeck won two tiebreaks against Kun Teng to win 7-6 in each set. Echikson would also take care of Jacob Hoffman 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 6 slot.
 
The match would ultimately come down to No. 2 singles but the Eagles' Priyank Soni was able to get the best of Zachary Vaughn as he took down the Yeomen senior 6-2, 6-4.
 
The Yeomen have another tough test on Friday as they travel to Cleveland to take on 12th ranked Spartans of Case Western Reserve at 6 p.m.