Men's Tennis opens up season with 7-2 loss at Northwestern Ohio

By Steven Wright

LIMA — The Ohio Northern men's tennis team dropped its season opener to Northwestern Ohio in a tightly contested 7-2 matchup Saturday afternoon on the campus of UNOH.

The Polar Bears fall to 0-1 on the year, while the Racers remain undefeated at 3-0.

Junior Jeff Carter and sophomore Andrew Korba recorded Northern's lone doubles win at No. 2 doubles with an 8-4 victory over Bryan Wright and Jason Sarno.

The other two doubles matches were close, as UNOH's Jeff Brown and Juan Cardenas beat sophomore Nick Kowalczyk and freshman Joey Frank at No. 1 doubles 8-5 and Alexander Hager and Chris Cash beat sophomore Matt Dutro and freshman Mike King 8-6 at No. 3 doubles.

Frank picked up Northern's only singles win at No. 2 singles, beating Cardenas 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5).

Every singles match between the two schools went to a decisive third set.

Junior Kyle Barnaba came the closest in the final set at No. 6 singles, pushing Cash to the brink but losing 7-5 in the third-set tiebreaker.

ONU will be in action again on Sept. 24-27 at the ITA Regionals hosted by Washington (Mo.).