BEREA, OHIO – The defending Ohio Athletic Conference champion Baldwin Wallace University men's tennis team improved to 19-0 today with a 9-0 shutout victory against Wilmington College inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse. The match was originally scheduled to be played outside on the "Pop" Collins Courts, but moved indoors due to misty rain outside.
The victory stretches BW's regular season winning streak to 48 consecutive matches dating back to last season and is the ninth shutout this season. The win also improves BW to 4-0 in the OAC and is the 48th win in the last 49 dual matches dating back to last season when it finished 29-1 overall, won both the OAC regular season and OAC Tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The win also was BW's 14th straight in OAC regular season action. With their loss, the Quakers are 1-6 overall and 0-5 in the OAC.
BW led 3-0 after doubles play, and won all six singles matches to earn the win.
Highlighting the victory was senior No. 1 singles player Joe Horvath (North Royalton), who defeated Wilmington's Justin Arehart by the scores of 6-3 and 6-2 to win his 92nd career match and improve to 92-11 for his career with an .894 career winning percentage and 19-3 this season. He is second all-time in singles wins. The all-time leader is James Daly (2005-2008) with 105 career victories.
In addition to Horvath, sophomore All-OAC No.2 player Kyle Patterson (Wooster/ Triway) defeated the Quakers' Connor LaVelle, 6-0 and 6-1, to improve to 20-4. Freshman No.3 singles player Peter Harris (Akron/ Revere) defeated Wilmington's Josh Kincaid, 6-2 and 6-3, to improve his record to 21-3. Senior Academic All-OAC No.4 player Alex Kearney (North Olmsted) improved to 17-2 overall with a 6-1 and 6-0 win against Wilmington's Cullen Corcoran. Freshman No.5 player Doug Ganim (Olentangy/ Orange) defeated Wilmington's Ron Sansome, 6-0 and 6-0, to improve to 19-4 overall. Senior Academic All-OAC and CAPITAL ONE Academic All-District 7 standout Brad Minrovic (Akron/ Ellet) won by forfeit. He is 18-5 this season.
In doubles action, the No.1 duo of Harris and Ganim defeated Wilmington's Arehart and Kincaid by an 8-5 score to improve to 19-6. At No.2, Patterson and Minrovic beat the Quakers' Corcoran by LaVelle by an 8-1 count to improve to 15-4 this season. At No.3, the tandem of Horvath and Kearney won by forfeit. The duo is 14-0 this season.
The Yellow Jackets return to action on Tuesday, April 16 when it hosts OAC rival Heidelberg University at the Collins Courts at 3:30 p.m. Next Saturday, April 20, the BW men travel to Ada to play OAC arch-rival Ohio Northern University in a key match at 1:00 p.m.
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