GAMBIER, Ohio - Picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll, the Wittenberg Tigers came up with a tremendous first-round performance against Allegheny to assure themselves of no worse than a fourth-place finish in the 2009 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament.
More importantly, the Tigers have a chance for their best conference finish since 2003, when they were the NCAC runner-up, thanks to a tremendous rally against Allegheny in the first match of the day. After winning two of the three doubles matches, the Tigers lost a pair of straight-set singles matches to fall behind. However, at Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6 singles, the matches went into a third and deciding set, and the Tigers picked up wins in three of those four confrontations.
Three-set winners for the Tigers were freshman Derek de Rie (Breukeler, The Netherlands/RSG Broklede) at No. 5 singles, senior Andrew Young (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior) at No. 6 singles and senior Brad Seymour (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) at No. 1 singles. Seymour and de Rie were also winners at No. 2 doubles, while Young teamed with junior Craig Lods (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) to earn a win at No. 3 doubles.
In the Tigers' second match, the homestanding Lords proved too much as they advanced to their customary position in the NCAC title match. After sweeping all three doubles matches, Kenyon picked up a pair of comfortable singles wins to clinch the team victory and end the match prematurely.