Indianapolis, Indiana – The Wittenberg University Men's Tennis team topped Wabash by a 5-4 margin on Saturday afternoon in the 7th-place match at the 2019 NCAC Men's Tennis Tournament at the Indy Racquet Club in Indianapolis.
After posting their second win over Wabash in the last three weeks, the Tigers not only finished the 2018-19 season with an overall record of 12- 9 for their first winning season since 2013-14, but they also posted their best finish at the NCAC Tournament since sharing the seventh spot with Ohio Wesleyan in the spring of 2014.
Who Stood Out
The Tigers rushed out to an early 2-1 lead in the match, highlighted by the senior duo of Martin Mora and Luke Minard picking up a hard-fought 8-7 (7-3) win in the top doubles flight against Patrick McAuley and Jordan Greenwell. Senior Timmy McNulty and freshman Gavin Tay also won their doubles match in the second flight with an 8-2 triumph over Lukas Senn and Nishaal Thambipillay.
As the match turned to singes action things started to heat up between the two squads as each team came away with three singles victories, but the Tigers ultimately secured the one-point victory over the Little Giants thanks in part to a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win for Mora in the top singles flight against McAuley. In addition to Mora, Tay earned a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Greenwell in the second flight, while Minard was also tested in the fifth flight as he grinded out a 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) win over Senn.
The remaining three singles matches were all tightly contested as well, with freshman Joe Patton dropping a 6-4, 6-3 decision against Duncay Roy in the third flight, McNulty suffering a heartbreaking 7-5, 7-5 decision in the fourth flight and finally senior Kieren Thomas dropping a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 match against Evan Frank in the sixth flight.