to the Ohio Athletic Conference Final Four
BEREA, OHIO -- The third-seeded Baldwin-Wallace College men's tennis team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference rival and sixth-seeded Heidelberg College, 5-0, today (Tuesday, April 24, 2007) in the first round of the OAC Tournament at the "Pop" Collins Courts in Berea.
With its win, B-W improves to 20-2 overall and advances to the OAC Final Four and will play the winner of the second-seed Mount Union College versus seventh-seed Wilmington College match on Friday, April 27 in a semifinal match at 12:00 p.m. at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. With its loss, Heidelberg ends its season at 9-8 overall.
In doubles, B-W bulit a 3-0 advantage as the number one tandem of junior No.1 singles standout James Daly (Akron/ Firestone) and sophomore No.5 player Jim Kucera (Mentor) won, 8-1, the No. 2 duo of senior No. 2 player Ryan McCartney (Lorain/ Admiral King) and freshman No.3 player Andy Redd (Archbold) won, 8-6, and the No. 3 duo of sophomore No. 6 player Zach Long (Ashland/ Senior) and senior Dan Mitoff (Lorain/ Admiral King) won, 8-5. With their win at No.1, Daly and Kucera improved to 17-1 this season and have won 17 straight matches this season.
In singles play, Daly won, 6-0 and 6-0, at No.1 and freshman No.4 player Zach Apperson (Zanesville/ Rosecrans) ended the match with a 6-2, and 6-0 straight set win at No.4. In the OAC Tournament, the first team to score five points is declared the victor. In addition to Daly and Apperson winning, McCartney, Redd, Kucera and Long all played but did not finish their singles matches prior to Apperson securing the fifth team point.
With his win, Daly, this week's OAC Men's Tennis Player of the Week, is now 25-2 this season and 76-7 in his career in singles play and is three wins shy of tying Mike Wagner's (2000-2004) all-time school-record of 79 career wins. He has won 13 straight matches this season and is 21-1 in singles in dual match action. Daly is B-W's all-time leader with 66 career doubles wins, a 66-10 record, a school-record 142 career combination (singles + doubles = combination) wins and a career overall slate of 142-17.
The 2007 OAC Championship match will be played on Saturday, April 28 at 1:00 p.m. in Mason.
This marks the sixth straight year that B-W has advanced to the OAC Final Four, including titles in 2004 and 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Brian Rector, pleace call him in the office at 440-826-3819 or you can reach him via e-mail at rectobr@stratos.net.
Baldwin-Wallace College Men HOST Heidelberg College
2007 Ohio Athletic Conference Quarterfinal Match
on 4/24/2007; in Berea, Ohio
At the "Pop" Collins Courts
FINAL SCORE: BALDWIN-WALLACE 5, HEIDELBERG 0
First Singles: Daly (B-W) defeated Evans (HC), 6-0, 6-0; Second Singles: McCartney (B-W) versus Norris (HC), 4-3 DNF; Third Singles: Redd (B-W) versus Guidon (HC), 6-3, 1-2 DNF; Fourth Singles: Apperson (B-W) def. Al-Turk, 6-2, 6-0; Fifth Singles: Kucera (B-W) versus Fahning (HC), 6-4, 0-1 DNF; Sixth Singles: Long (B-W) versus Florence (HC), 5-7; First Doubles: Daly-Kucera (B-W) def. Evans-Norris (HC), 8-1; Second Doubles: McCartney-Redd (B-W) def. Al-Turk-Fahning (HC), 8-6; Third Doubles: Long-Mitoff (B-W) def. Florence-Guidon (HC), 8-5.
275 Eastland Rd.