SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's tennis team could not have taken on two more different opponents in nearly perfect weather conditions on an Easter Weekend. The Tigers were pleased with both results, however, after taking a tense 5-4 decision against North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) West Division rival Wabash, followed by a 9-0 sweep of Central State.
The wins moved the Tigers to 14-6 overall on the season, including a mark of 1-2 in the NCAC West. The win over Wabash is likely to give Wittenberg the No. 4 seed in the upcoming NCAC Tournament.
Against the Little Giants, the Tigers fell behind 2-1 after the doubles competition, with the lone victory coming from sophomore Sam Wilke (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin)and freshmen Alexey Topolyanskiy (Moscow, Russia) at the No. 3 position.
Those two played a key role in the singles rally as well. Wilke was a winnger at No. 4 singles, pulling out a straight-sets victory that was matched by junior Sergio Fishkin (Minsk, Belarus) at No. 5 and freshman Sasha Topolyanskiy (Moscow, Russia) at No. 3. Alexey Topolyanskiy clinched the match for the Tigers with a three-set win at No. 2 singles.
Wittenberg recorded a convincing doubles sweep against Central State before capping the day with six straight singles wins. The Tigers lost more than one game in just one of the six singles matches.