Derek Derie
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - If their last two conference matches are any indicator of the upcoming North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament, the Wittenberg Tigers will find themselves right in the thick of several point-by-point duels. Taking on Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg battled back from a 4-3 deficit early in the doubles competition to take the final two matches and win 5-4.
Three of the singles matches, which uncharacteristically were played before the doubles contests, required three sets to determine a winner, including at the sixth flight, where freshman Derek de Rie (Breukeler, The Netherlands/RSG Broklede) stormed out of the gate in the third set to win 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 and knot up the match at three points apiece.
Then, with the match in the balance, de Rie and freshman Stephane Antwi (Rosedale, NY/Monsignor McClancy Memorial) scored another crucial team point with an 8-5 win at the second flight for doubles.
The de Rie double-win set the stage for the match of the night at third flight doubles, where sophomore Bobby Fisher (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) and juniorAndy Lamb (Bluffton, Ohio/Bluffton) stormed back from down 7-4 in their match to force the deciding tiebreaker. With their 13th win on the line, Lamb and Fisher won the breaker and the match for the Tigers.
Two more NCAC matches await this weekend, when the Tigers meet Earlham College at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 18, before a 3 p.m. visit from the College of Wooster the following day. Those will be the final tune-ups for the conference tourney at Kenyon the following weekend.
Written by: Ben Bradley, SID Assistant