BEREA, OHIO -- The second-seeded Baldwin-Wallace College men’s tennis team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference arch-rival and third-seeded Mount Union College, 5-0, today (Friday, April 25, 2008) in a semifinal match at the OAC Tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

 

With its win, B-W advances to the OAC Championship Match for the fourth time in the last five years and will face  top-seeded Ohio Northern University at 10:00 a.m. in Mason. Fans can access live scoring of the championship match on the championship Web site by logging on at www.onusports.com/MTennis/oac08/index.html.  ONU is the defending champion and beat B-W in last year’s final.

 

With its victory, B-W improved to 20-4 overall, including 15 victories in its last 15 matches, has won 20 or more matches in five of the past six seasons and is having its 20th consecutive winning season on the courts.  With its loss, Mount Union ended its season at 19-4 overall, including a pair of losses to the Yellow Jackets.

 

In doubles play, the No.1 duo of senior James Daly (Akron/ Firestone) and junior No.4 singles player Andy Redd (Archold), the No.2 duo of freshman No.2 player Tyler Adams (Wheelersburg) and freshman No.5 player Matt Lachman (Cleveland Heights/ Lakewood St. Edward) and the No.3 tandem of junior No.3 player Jim Kucera (Mentor) and junior Zach Long (Ashland/ Senior) all won. For his career, Daly won his school, OAC and Ohio collegiate-record 90th career match and is now 90-15 overall. This season, Daly and Redd have compiled a 2-0 record, Adams and Lachman are 21-4 and Kucera and Long are 2-0.

 

In singles play, Daly, the 2007 OAC Player of the Year, and junior No.4 player Andy Redd (Archbold) both won.  For Daly, the victory was the B-W, OAC and Ohio collegiate-record 104th of his career in singles. He defeated Mount Union’s Zach Perry by the scores of 6-4 and 6-3 to improve to 27-3 this season and 104-10 in his career. In addition, Redd is now 16-9 this season.

 

The winner of the OAC Tournament receives the OAC’s automatic berth to next week’s NCAA Division III National Tournament.

 

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, please call 440-826-2184 or e-mail at brector@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest B-W athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.

 

 

 

SINGLES MATCHES:  No.1: James Daly (B-W) defeated Zach Perry (MUC), 6-4, 6-3; No.2: Tyler Adams (B-W) versus Brian Mogus (MUC), unfinished; No.3: Jim Kucera (B-W) versus Brian Widdoes (MUC), unfinished; No.4: Andy Redd (B-W) def. Travis Papay (MUC), 6-0, 6-2; No.5: Matt Lachman (B-W) Brian Belconis (MUC), unfinished; No.6: Sam Burris (B-W) versus Chase Thomas (MUC), unfinished.

 

DOUBLES MATCHES:  No.1: Daly-Redd (B-W) def. Jim Jeffries-Mogus (MUC), 9-8 (8-6); No.2:  Adams-Lachman (B-W) def. Perry-Papay (MUC), 8-4; No.3: Kucera-Zach Long (B-W) def. Thomas-Belconis (MUC), 8-4.

 

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Miscellaneous Yellow Jacket Men's Tennis Notes:  Baldwin-Wallace won the OAC men's tennis title in both 2004 and 2005... During the past six years, B-W has compiled an impressive 122-16 overall record with an .884 winning percentage... Head Coach Brian Rector is the winninest men's tennis coach in OAC history  and enters tomorrow's match with 326 career wins and a 326-73 with an .817 winning percentage... Rector is a 1989 graduate of the College and is a former Academic All-American who at one time owned all of the school's singles and doubles records. He has since been surpassed by 18 of his current and former players. He was named as head coach of the program one week after he graduated and was hand-picked by his predecessor, Truman Fields... Did you know that Boston Globe sportswriter and world-renown tennis analyst Bud Collins is a native of Berea, a graduate of Berea High School, is a B-W graduate, former B-W tennis player and coach at the College... There is a journalism scholarship at the College which bears his name...  The B-W tennis complex, the "Pop" Collins Courts, are named after Bud's father, who was a professor and coach at B-W.