Earlham Results
Franciscan Results
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WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The Otterbein University men's tennis team split a pair of matches to open the spring season, falling 9-0 to Earlham before picking up an 8-1 win over Franciscan.

The Cardinals came into spring with an 0-2 overall record, but picked up their first win of the year over Franciscan on Saturday after navigating a tough non-conference schedule to begin the year. The win was also the first in the collegiate head coaching career of Tyler Stephen.

"It was nice to see us end up in the win-column after playing so many tough teams in the fall and early-winter," said Stephen. "The guys have put in some good work these first four weeks and we know that some of the teams in the OAC have gotten better on paper since last season, so we're going to have to make up for that with our work ethic."

Otterbein battled Earlham in the majority of its matches on Feb. 12 at the Dayton Tennis Courts, forcing two singles matches into tiebreakers.  

Seniors Zach McDivitt and David Seckel each battled the Quakers to a tiebreak-set, with McDivitt coming up short to Gleb Babikov (10-6) and Seckel coming up short (10-5) against Adarsh Singh in their respective tiebreakers.  

Seckel and fellow senior Will Willson competed in the one spot in doubles, falling to Vitalii Stadnyk and Jack Ventura-Cruess (8-5). McDivitt and junior Ben Keen were defeated in the No. 2 spot by Babikov and Singh (8-4).

The Cards turned around on Saturday and swept all but one match against Franciscan, picking up three wins in doubles and five in singles competition. Seckel and Willson teamed up in the top spot for the Cards and defeated the Barons' Jarek Sulak and John Gallagher (8-2) to improve to 2-2 on the year.

Keen and McDivitt claimed the No. 2-spot with a win over Zack Quiza and David Freytag (8-3) to improve to 1-1 as teammates. Senior Kevin Adell and freshman  Perry Williams wrapped up doubles play in the third spot with a convincing win over Richard Watson and Joe Staniszewski (8-1).

Singles competition featured Willson recording his second win of the year in the first spot for the Cards, as he topped Quiza (6-0, 6-1). Seckel followed in the two spot with his second win of the season, this time over Sulak (6-1, 6-3). McDivitt defeated John Gallagher (6-4, 6-2) for his initial win.

Williams endured a back-and-forth match against David Freytag in the four slot, winning the first set 7-5 before falling in the final two sets (6-2, 10-7). Keen picked up his team-leading third win of the season  after defeating Watson (6-1, 6-0) and Wharton tallied his first career win in a 7-2 tiebreak over Staniszewski (6-1, 7-6).

Otterbein is now set to take its annual spring break trip to Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 28 – Mar. 2. The Cards will face Wartburg, Adrian, Johnson & Wales, and Ave Maria over the course of four days. For match times, please visit the team's schedule page.