CLEVELAND, Ohio—The Allegheny College men's tennis team improved to 4-1 on the season with a 6-3 victory over John Carroll University Saturday (Feb. 23) on the road.
John Carroll entered the season with four straight Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Championships. It also marks the first win for the Gators over the Blue Streaks since 2-14.
The Blue Streaks opened the match with a 2-1 advantage following doubles. The Gators win in doubles came in the second flight.
Cooper Miller and
Mackenzie Knowlton took on the John Carroll tandem of Adi Jha and Parker Holyn. The match was close but the Gator duo managed to gain an advantage and ride it to n 8-5 win.
In singles, the Blue Streaks won the first decision, collecting a win at third singles to increase their lead to 3-1. However, that would be the last win for the Blue Streaks on the day.
At first singles,
Wonjoon Cho picked up a clean 6-0, 6-1 win over David Sinense to cut the deficit to 3-2. At second singles,
Matt Andrus would tie the match at three as he defeated Gustavo Garcia by a decisive 6-1, 6-2 score.
Miller collected his second victory of the day at fourth singles. Facing Jha once more, Miller won 6-2, 6-2 to put the Gators ahead for the first time on the day.
The fifth singles match proved to be the deciding match on the day.
Zach Anderson faced Andrew Triner in a highly contested battle. The opening set went to a tiebreaker with the two tied at six. Anderson was dominate in the extra session, collecting a 7-1 win to take the opening set. Triner recovered from the tiebreaker loss as he once again tied Anderson at six games apiece in the second set. But once again, Anderson was cool under the pressure as he took the tiebreaker 7-3, winning the overall match for the Gators.
The sixth singles match closed out the day. Knowlton also picked up his second win of the day as he handed Jack Payne a 6-4, 6-4 loss to give the Gators their sixth win.
Allegheny is back in action in mid-March as they play a five-game schedule over spring break in Hilton Head, S.C.
