Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's tennis team snagged its first win of the season in a closely contested match against Ohio Northern University, on Sunday evening.
 
Second-year Zain Makada and first-year Oliver Knijnenburg got the Yeomen rolling with an 18-minute win over Jakub Wierzba and Kessler Hackenberger, 6–0, in the #3 match. First years Max Brose and Enrique Margain fell behind early in their #2 match against Thomas Schultz and Noah Boyce, 4–1, but hung tough to level the match at four games a piece. The Polar Bears won a few key points to snag a 6–4 win.
 
Things had been looking dire for Oberlin for nearly the entirety of the #1 doubles match. Third-year Shawn Lisann and first-year Brady Huggett found themselves trailing by at least three games for almost the entire set, from 3–0 to 5–2. Ohio Northern's Peyton Specht and Tyler Wood had three match points at 5–2, 40–15, but the Yeomen were able to claw their way out of the game. Suddenly, momentum was fully on Lisann and Huggett's side as they went on a tear, winning 4 straight games. The Oberlin duo had four match points of their own at 6–5, 0–40 on the Polar Bears' serve, but couldn't convert any of them. With the entire Oberlin and Ohio Northern squads cheering their teammates on, the #1 match entered a deciding tiebreak. Lisann and Huggett raced out to a 6–1 win but needed four more match points before grabbing the doubles point for Oberlin with a 7–6 (4) win.
 
Singles play was about as close as it could have been, with four of six matches decided in third sets.
 
Oberlin's #1 Lisann continued his streak of dropping the first set before storming back to grab a win. Specht was able to hang with Lisann through a back and forth set that saw the Polar Bear close out the tiebreak with ease, 7–3. Lisann started the second set with newfound energy and overwhelmed Specht over the second and third sets as he dropped just two out of thirteen games en route to a 6–7 (3), 6–1, 6–3 victory.
 
Margain came out firing on all cylinders against Schultz and couldn't seem to hit a poor shot as he cruised to a 6–2 first set. However, while Margain began to falter, Schultz upped his level and capitalized on a few key points in the second and third sets to seal the #2 singles match, 2–6, 7–6 (4), 6–4.
 
Makada had one of the most heartbreaking losses of the day in his #3 match against Wood. After just one break separated the two players in the first set – Wood won it 6–3 – Makada cruised through the second with ease, breaking Wood twice to win it 6–1. Wood responded well, though, breaking Makada to set up a 5–2 lead. The Yeoman refused to back down without a fight and suddenly reeled off four games in a row to give himself the chance to serve out the match. Wood was able to reset himself and play just two better points in the deciding tiebreak to win 6–3, 1–6, 7–6 (5).
 
Brose had a similarly brutal loss as he was unable to close out the match on his serve. After struggling to play consistently in the first set and having dropped serve up 5–2 in the second, the first-year was able to serve out the second set in his second try to level the match, 2–6, 6–4. Serving for the match up 5–4 in the third, Brose saved a break point to earn himself a match point at 40–40, but Boyce was able to win the deuce point and the next two games for a 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 win.
 
Huggett and Ben Tichauer started their matches at about the same time, at #5 and #6 respectively. With the Yeomen trailing 3–2, both players needed to win their matches to give their team its first victory of the season.
 
Tichauer had the most straight-forward win of the day over Samrvir Sran, 6–3, 6–1, to level the match at 3–3.
 
Huggett had a lengthy first set that ended in a nail-biting tiebreak that went his way, 7–6 (7). The first-year was up a break 4–3 in the second before Hackenberger broke him back to even the set at 4–4. After Hackenberger double faulted on a deuce point, Huggett closed out the match on his second match point to win 7–6 (7), 6–4 and clinch the win for his team.
 
The Yeomen will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Kalamazoo for a 2 p.m. match against the Hornets on Saturday.
 
Fans can keep up with their favorite teams on Instagram, Facebook, X, or TikTok, and watch all the home matches live online. The Crimson and Gold's home broadcasts can be accessed on TV through the official Oberlin College Sports Network app on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.