GRANVILLE, Ohio – For the second straight year, the Allegheny College men's tennis team took fifth place at the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament with a 5-4 marathon victory over Wabash College this afternoon.
Allegheny (8-14, 2-2 NCAC East) picked up its third victory in the last four NCAC Tournament fifth-place matches over Wabash (18-15, 2-1 NCAC West) after two wins in doubles and three in singles play. The majority of the bout was played outdoors before inclement weather forced the top-flight singles match and overall decider indoors.
Thomas Manning and
Jai Redkar played a barn-burner in top-flight doubles against the Little Giants' Michael Makio and William Reifeis, eventually pulling out a 9-8 (7-4) win. The senior duo of
Samarth Gopal and
Andreas Landgrebe gave the Gators a 2-1 edge in doubles with their 8-3 win over Mazin Hakim and George Go III.
Landgrebe's 7-5, 6-1 win over Kirill Ivashchenko in fourth-flight singles moved Allegheny ahead of Wabash, 3-2, before the Little Giants responded with back-to-back victories in the second and sixth flights.
With no room for error,
Colton JohnsonTaylor showed some impressive composure by knotting the match up at 4-4 with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) decision over Nicholas Pollock in the fifth flight. Manning then closed the match out with a three-set win (6-4, 3-6, 6-2) over Makio in the top flight.
With the victory, the Gators gained some revenge against Wabash, who entered this match ranked No. 14 in the ITA Division III Central Region and defeated Allegheny, 6-3, in Cleveland on Feb. 27.
Manning finishes his career with 136 career victories (74 singles, 62 doubles), the third most in program history. His singles mark is tied for second with David Howell (1996-00), while he slots fifth in doubles wins.
Tyler Triolo ends his time in the Gator blue and gold with 124 career victories, a program record 81 of which coming in doubles action.
Allegheny closes its season with an 8-14 overall record and will see four seniors (Gopal, Landgrebe, Manning, Triolo) graduate in May.
