BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis advanced to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals with a 5-0 shutout victory against Heidelberg University inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse. The match began outdoors with all three doubles matches underway on the Pop Collins Tennis Courts but rain forced the match indoors into the Higgins Center, which has only three courts.
In the OAC Tournament, all matches are ended when the winning team reaches five team points regardless of the current progress of other matches still on court. Each match will start with the three doubles matches and will continue with singles action until the winning five points are obtained.
BW (23-4), who is seeking its fifth OAC Tournament Championship and first since 2012, will play the winner of third-seeded Otterbein University and sixth-seeded Ohio Northern University in the semifinals on Friday, May 6 at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason at 4:30 p.m. Heidelberg (5-12) ends its season.
The Yellow Jackets won all three double matches to gain a 3-0 advantage. The duo of senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC player Kyle Patterson (Wooster/Triway) and freshman Dominic Polifrone (Hudson) claimed the first point of the match as they won at second doubles by a score of 8-0 and are now 22-7 on the season. The tandem of senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC standout Peter Harris (Akron/Revere) and senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC player Doug Ganim (Westerville/Olentangy Orange) earned the second point as they took the earned the victory at first doubles by a score of 8-3 to improve to 23-7 at first singles and 88-25 in their career as partners. The team of senior Kevin Fredrick (Archbold) and freshman Matt Harris (Akron/Revere) picked up the third point with a hard fought 8-6 victory at third doubles to up their record to 16-7 on the season
BW closed out the match as it won second and third singles. First and fourth singles were in action when the Yellow Jackets got the fifth and final point while fifth and singles did not even get a chance to start. Patterson won the fourth point as he took a 6-3 and 6-0 victory at third singles and is now 28-2 on the season and ranks third all-time in BW history with a record of 94-19. Ganim claimed the fifth and final point as he won at second singles by scores of 6-3 and 6-2 and is now 24-4 on the year and ranks sixth all-time with a career-mark of 85-19.
In addition, Peter Harris had a 3-1 lead at first singles and Polifrone led 2-0 at fourth singles when the match was decided. Juniors Nathan Katz (Upper Arlington/Bexley) and Jake Liebler (Medina) did not start their matches at fifth and sixth singles, respectively.
The OAC Tournament Championship will be contested on Saturday, May 7 at the Linder Tennis Family Center in Mason at 2 p.m. The winner of the OAC Tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
