CINCINNATI, OHIO -- The top-seeded Baldwin-Wallace College men's tennis team defeated Cleveland cross-town rival and fifth-seeded John Carroll University, 5-1, today (Friday, May 4, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal match. The match was moved indoors from the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason to the indoor courts at the Queen City Racquet Club in Cincinnati due to inclement weather.
With the victory, the Yellow Jackets improved to a school-record 27-0 overall and advance to OAC Championship match against Ohio Northern University tomorrow (Saturday, May 5) at 2:00 p.m. A first-ever NCAA Division III National Tournament berth will be at stake for B-W.
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.
B-W will be making its seventh OAC Championship Match appearance and will be going for a fourth OAC Tournament title but its first-ever NCAA berth. The other OAC tourney titles came in 1992, 2004 and 2005. The Yellow Jackets also have won three regular season titles, including this season. The other two came in 2004 and 2005. With its loss, JCU ends its season at 8-12 overall.
The other semifinal match, No.2-seed ONU defeated No.3-seed Otterbein University, 5-0.
B-W took a 2-1 lead after the doubles competition and won three singles matches to claim the win.
In doubles action, the No. 2 tandem of juniors Joe Horvath (North Royalton ) and Tyler Beaton (Bemus Point, N.Y./ Maple Grove) won by a score of 8-4 and the No.3 team of freshman Kyle Patterson (Wooster/Triway) and senior Taylor Long (Ashland) won by a score of 8-3.
Horvath and Beaton are now 20-2 and Patterson and Long are now 12-4 on the season. T
In singles play, junior No.5 player Alex Kearney (North Olmsted) claimed the third point as he won with the scores of 6-2 and 6-1. Patterson won the fourth point at number three singles as he won 6-2 and 6-2. Senior No. 4 player Alexandre Bourdiaux (Paris, FRANCE/ Lycee Saint Dominique) closed out the match with the fifth and decisive point as he won his match by scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
Bourdiaux's win gives him a perfect 23-0 record this season. Other records include Patterson at 25-3, Kearney at 25-4 this season and 63-11 for his career (including 17-0 as a freshman at the University of Mount Union).
FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics
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FINAL SCORE: Baldwin-Wallace -- 5, John Carroll -- 1
SINGLES RESULTS:
No.1: Alex Trzeciak (B-W) unfinished Ryan Mullaney (JCU), 4-6, 2-2
No.2: Joe Horvath (B-W) unfinished Sean Graham (JCU), 6-1, 4-3
No.3: Kyle Patterson (B-W) defeated Michael Hulseman (JCU), 6-2, 6-2
No.4: Alex Bourdiaux (B-W) defeated Peter Scanniello (JCU), 6-2, 6-1
No.5: Alex Kearney (B-W) defeated Eric Grimald (JCU), 6-2, 6-1
No.6: Tyler Beaton (B-W) unfinished Cass Stadnik (JCU), 6-0, 1-1
DOUBLES RESULTS:
No.1: Mullaney/ Graham (JCU) defeated Bourdiaux/ Trzeciak (B-W), 9-7
No.2: Horvath/Beaton (B-W) defeated Scanniello/ Hulseman (JCU), 8-4
No.3: Patterson/Taylor Long (B-W) defeated Stadnik/ Grimaldi (JCU), 8-3
