Baldwin-Wallace edges Ohio Northern 5-4 in battle for tops spot in OAC

April 15, 2008

By Patrick Massara

ADA — The Ohio Northern women’s tennis team fell to Baldwin-Wallace in a close 5-4 match Tuesday afternoon at University Courts.

This was only the Polar Bears’ second conference loss as they move to 6-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and 17-5 overall.

Baldwin-Wallace remains undefeated in conference play as they better their record to 8-0 in the OAC and 14-6 overall. This was the Yellow Jackets 12th straight overall win and their 20th in OAC play dating back to last season.

BW clinches a share of the OAC regular season title and the top seed in next week’s OAC tournament.

Senior Ashley Yontz won her last regular season home match as a Polar Bear as she won at No. 2 singles 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. She moves to 18-6 in singles play this year and 7-1 in OAC matches.

Sophomore Katie Gibbs won at No. 4 singles by a score of 7-5 (7-6), 6-2. Gibbs is also 7-1 in conference play this year.

Gibbs and fellow sophomore Jacki Hillis won their No. 3 doubles match 8-4. The duo is now 6-1 in OAC matches this season.

Freshman Kristen Timperman defeated her No. 5 singles opponent 6-3, 6-2. Kristen has won nine of her last 10 matches in singles play.

“While it was a wild match, I remained focussed and was able to pull out a win today,” Yontz stated regarding her singles match. “Although the team lost today, we know what we have to work on before our match with Mount Union and the OAC tournament next week.”

ONU travels to Mount Union on Saturday for its final regular season game with the match starting at 1 pm.