BEREA, Ohio – The third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis team defeated the sixth-seed Ohio Northern University in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal match by a final score of 5-0 on the Pop Collins Tennis 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 (17-3) advances to the OAC Tournament semifinals and will face the second-seed University of Mount Union on Friday, May 5 at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason at 1 p.m. Ohio Northern (11-11) ends its season.
The Yellow Jackets took the early 3-0 lead as it won all three doubles matches. Sophomore All-OAC player Dominic Polifrone (Hudson) and sophomore Matt Harris (Akron/Revere) won at first doubles by a score of 8-4. Senior Academic All-OAC players Nathan Katz (Upper Arlington/Bexley) and Jake Liebler (Medina) captured second doubles by a score of 8-4. Senior Brian Carano (Akron/Revere) and freshman Jake Elbin (Findlay) took third doubles by a score of 8-3.
In singles action, BW secured the final two points when Elbin first won his match at sixth singles by scores of 6-2 and 6-0 and Carano finished the match when he took fourth singles by scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
The four other matches were unfinished when the winning point occurred. Polifrone was leading at first singles by a score of 6-4. Katz won his first set 6-4 but trailed 0-3 in the second set at second singles. Harris was leading his third singles match by scores of 6-4 and 4-0. Liebler won his first set by a score of 6-1 and was tied 1-1 in the second set of his match at fifth singles.
The OAC Championship will be contested on Saturday, May 6 with the winners of Friday's semifinal matches facing off at the Linder Family Tennis Center at 10 a.m.