MIAMISBURG, Ohio – The third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis team was defeated by second-seed University of Mount Union in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal match by a final score of 5-1 at the South Regency Tennis and Fitness Center.

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. 

Mount Union (16-4) advances to the OAC Tournament Championship game and will face the top-seed John Carroll University on Friday, May 5 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason at 10 a.m.  BW (17-4) ends its season.  

The Purple Raiders took the early 3-0 lead as it won all three doubles matches. Senior Academic All-OAC players Nathan Katz (Upper Arlington/Bexley) and Jake Liebler (Medina) at second doubles and senior Brian Carano (Akron/Revere) and freshman Jake Elbin (Findlay) at third doubles each lost by scores of 8-4.

Due to only three courts available for singles, a random draw was held to determine which matches would start first.  The first three on the court were second, third and fifth singles followed by first, fourth and sixth.

Mount Union picked up the final two points as it won two of three matches while all other matches were in progress.  Liebler picked up the lone point for the Yellow Jackets as he won his match at fifth singles scores of 6-3 and 6-2.  Katz battled in his match at second singles as he lost 3-6, 6-7 and 6-8 in the tiebreaker. Freshman Jake Elbin (Findlay) won his first set by a score of 6-0 and was up 3-0 when match was called.

The winner of Saturday's championship match receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.