NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis team opened up the spring schedule with a 7-2 non-conference win over Penn State Behrend College at the North Ridge Tennis and Golf Club.
BW (4-0) won two of the three doubles matches. Junior Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Scholar Athlete Roger Boyer (Medina/Brunswick) and freshman Michael Benotti (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon) paired up at No. 3 doubles and were the first to walk off the courts with an 8-3 victory. Senior Alex Papke (Federal Way, Wash./Thomas Jefferson) and sophomore ITA Scholar Athlete Jake Elbin (Findlay) quickly followed with an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles. Although Behrend (1-3) won at No. 1 doubles, Dominic Polifrone (Hudson) and Matt Harris (Akron/Revere) put up a tough fight, falling by a score of 9-7.
Polifrone, Elbin, Boyer, Benotti and Papke all picked up wins in singles play. Polifrone cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Behrend's No. 1 Yanique Apgar; Elbin defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles; Boyer won at No. 4 by scores of 6-4, 6-2; Benotti pulled out a tight first set and won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 and Papke defeated his No. 6 opponent 6-4, 6-1.
After playing in the toughest doubles match, Harris found himself in the tightest singles match as well. The junior dropped his first set 6-3 but roared back to win the second 7-5, forcing a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match. Harris could not find a rhythm in the tiebreaker set, losing by an overall score of 3-6, 7-5, 10-4.
BW hits the road for non-conference action on Saturday, February 17, against Defiance College at 5 p.m. inside the George M. Smart Athletic Center.