Saint John's Match   Augustana Match   Mount St. Mary's Match   Grand Valley State Match

WESTERVILLE, OHIO—The Otterbein University men's tennis team begins its Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) championship defense, traveling to the University of Mount Union Saturday to open conference play.
 
"It goes without question that repeating as champions is tougher than winning in the first place," said Otterbein head coach Mark Anderson. "This Saturday, we begin our quest to repeat as league and tournament champions. It will be even tougher for us, as we are not quite as strong as we were last season and some of our opponents have strengthened their teams. But that just makes the challenge more exciting. We've worked hard and I'm convinced we're ready for the challenge."
 
The Cardinals head into Saturday's 1 p.m. matchup with the Purple Raiders in Alliance off a grueling four-match schedule in Orlando, Fla. over Spring Break. Otterbein lost all four matches against stiff competition, including NCAA Division I Mount St. Mary's University, NCAA Division II Grand Valley State University, and NCAA Division III programs Augustana College and Saint John's University.
 
"Going into the Spring Break trip, I knew we were facing extremely tough competition, including a D-I school and a D-II powerhouse," Anderson said. "Combine that with our No. 1 player (Will Willson) not being able to play singles due to an injury, and our results were understandably rough. Our players had to play up one or two spots. Despite that, I am confident the strong competition will help prepare us for OAC matches as well as the post-season conference tournament."
 
Willson, did, however, play doubles in Florida, picking up two wins with partner David Seckel at No. 1 doubles over Augustana, 8-5, and Mount St. Mary's, 8-6. Seckel also picked up a win at first singles against Saint John's University in a third set tie-breaker, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8). Kendall Coffman tallied a 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) victory at second singles against Augustana.
 
The Cardinals set a school record for wins in a season, 19, on their way to regular-season and tournament championships in the OAC in 2014. The season also marked the first NCAA appearance for the men's program and, with a 5-0 win over Messiah College in the opening round, first win in the NCAA tournament.