Otterbein University OTT (12-5)

John Carroll JCUM (5-10)

Otterbein University OTT

(12-5)

Final

Apr. 22, 2023

John Carroll JCUM

(5-10)

Summary
Box Score

The Blue Streaks notched the program's seventh OAC regular season crown in eight years.

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | 4/22/2023 9:23:00 PM | Joe Ginley '16, SID

Men's Tennis Conquers Cardinals to Claim Share of OAC Regular Season Crown

MAYFIELD, Ohio – A year ago, John Carroll Men's Tennis fell off its perch atop the Ohio Athletic Conference following a lengthy run.

The Blue Streaks did not take long to climb the mountain again.

By virtue of a 5-4 victory over the Otterbein Cardinals tonight, the Blue Streaks clinched a share of the OAC Regular Season Championship.

This marks the seventh OAC regular season crown in eight seasons for the Blue Streaks (notwithstanding the lost 2020 season).

The Blue Streaks entered the day needing a victory to keep title hopes alive, following a 7-2 loss at Ohio Northern earlier in the season. Otterbein conquered the Polar Bears back on April 12, 7-2.

The doubles matches saw John Carroll make an early statement. Otterbein opened things up with an 8-2 victory over Kevin Wacnik and Anthony Markello at #2 doubles. But the Blue Streaks bounced back. In a big way.

Phillip Gorun and Nathan Palinkas played strong tennis in an 8-5 victory at #3 doubles to tie things up. And so it set up a grudge match at the #1 spot, with Logan Langovsky and Grant Sarnowski toeing the court for JCU. The Blue & Gold's top doubles team fought an incredibly tough battle, but rose to the occasion with an 8-6 triumph.

And so, the Blue Streaks headed into singles with a critical 2-1 advantage.

Phillip Gorun opened up the singles play by breezing by his foe at #6 singles, 6-0, 6-1. But then Markello accepted defeat to a very tough foe at #3, 2-6, 1-6.

Kevin Wacnik earned a strong win at #4 singles next, pushing JCU's lead to 4-2 and taking the Cardinals to the brink. The sophomore did so by firing up a 6-3 set one victory, and then capturing a 7-6 win in set two thanks to a 7-5 tiebreaker.

Three matches remained. Logan Langovsky stumbled in his opening set, 4-6, before rebounding with a nice 6-3 conquest in set two. But the veteran ran out of steam against Otterbein's #1 player, 6-2.

Enter Nathan Palinkas.

The senior from Jefferson, Ohio worked very hard for a 7-6 win (7-3 tiebreaker) in the first set. A back-and-forth affair in the second set saw Palinkas take his foe to the brink, only to have him stave off elimination. But Palinkas outworked his opponent at the #5 spot, capturing the second set, 7-5, to bring his teammates charging to his side on the court.

"My strategy was to be aggressive and to move the ball corner to corner and take advantage of opportunities and letting it trip," said Palinkas. "This [championship] means a lot this year. We definitely won't take it for granted this year. I think we still have a lot of work to do in the postseason. This was a big win for our program. We don't know the draws yet but we'll work on the things we're weaker at and work on our strengths and confirm our identity overall."

The #2 singles contest took a while. Long after the match was decided, the third set between Grant Sarnowski and reigning OAC Athlete of the Week Joshua Mammen stretched on. Sarnowski dropped the first set, 4-6, before securing the second set, 6-2. Showing plenty of emotion the whole way, Sarnowski kept grinding. However, his foe got the final victory with a 7-6 conquest (7-4 tiebreaker) in the deciding third set.

The Blue Streaks will await their draw now for the OAC Tournament, pending other results in the conference this weekend.

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