Men’s Tennis Closes Out Fall Schedule at ITA Central Region Championships

Dominic Polifrone
Dominic Polifrone

KALAMAZOO, Mich. --   The Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis team closed out the fall portion of its schedule as it competed this past weekend at the three-day Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region Championships hosted by Kalamazoo College. 

In singles action for BW (1-0), sophomore All-OAC player Dominic Polifrone (Hudson) won two of four matches while senior Academic All-Ohio Athletic conference player Nathan Katz (Upper Arlington/Bexley) and each posted one victory in three matches.  Senior ITA scholar athlete Brian Carano (Akron/Revere) also competed but did not secure a win in two matches, including dropping a match against the 25th-seeded player.

Polifrone dropped his opening match in a three-set dog fight to David Sinense of cross-town rival John Carroll University by scores of 4-6, 6-2 and 10-6.  He then won two straight matches with victories against Connor Sass of North Central (Ill.) College by scores of 6-1 and 6-3 and Jeremiah Yi of Wheaton (Ill.) College by scores of 6-1 and 6-4. Polifrone had his tournament come to an end with a loss to Austin Diehl of Kenyon College by identical scores of 6-0.

Katz opened the tournament with a loss to the Charles Pei of the University of Chicago, who was the 17-seeded player, in straight sets by identical scores of 6-0.  He then followed it up with a victory by scores of 6-3 and 604 against Anthony Vroon of Calvin (Mich.) College.  Katz ended his run in the tournament with a hard fought match by scores of 6-3 and 6-3 against Brandon Broom of Adrian (Mich.) College.

In doubles action, the tandem of Polifrone and sophomore Matt Harris (Akron/Revere) earned a victory in three matches. The duo dropped their opening match to the seventh-seeded team of Patrick Farrell and Daniel Rodefeld of DePauw (Ind.) University.  The team then defeated Jonathon Elsey and Jack Morkin of Augustana (Ill.) College by a score of 8-6.   Polifrone and Harris had their tournament come to an end with an 8-2 loss to Andrew Denning and Michael Makio of Wabash (Ind.) College.

The Yellow Jackets return to action when they open their spring schedule on Saturday, February 11 with a pair of non-conference matches against Penn State Behrend College and Waynesburg (Pa.) University at the North Ridge Tennis and Golf Club in North Ridgeville.   The Penn State Behrend match is scheduled for 5 p.m. with the Waynesburg match slated for an 8 pm start.