ORLANDO, Fla. – The Otterbein men's tennis team shined in Florida by posting a 4-1 record over the course of the week, including a decisive 5-4 victory over Emerson and Midway to close the week out. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
SUNDAY – PENN STATE BERKS (W, 9-0)

• The Cardinals cruised to their most decisive victory of the trip by only dropping four games to the Nittany Lions.
• Brandon Wall, in the first singles slot, defeated his opponent 6-1 and his opponent could not finish the match. Connor Radune, Derek Krieger, Jamie Price, and Riley Yost all defeated the opposition 6-0, 6-0.

MONDAY – CARTHAGE (L, 5-4)

• In one of the most competitive matches of the week the Cardinals worked better in the duo spot by winning two of the three matches.
• Radune earned the third victory for Otterbein by besting John Nykyforuk 6-2, 6-4, as the sophomore continued to make life difficult for Nykyforuk by returning shot after shot and forcing him to make the mistake.
• Yost picked up the final victory of the afternoon for the Cards by winning 6-2, 7-5 in a back-and-forth match.

TUESDAY – EMERSON (W, 5-4)

• The toughest win of the trip for the team came against the Lions, as the Cardinals had to battle from behind to claim the victory.
• After dropping two of the three doubles matches and the first and second singles the Cardinals were behind 4-1. The Cardinals showed their depth in the third singles position as Tyler Wharton won 6-3, 6-4 with a comeback in the second set.
• Tom Ohler and Yost each won competitive matches to even the score at 4-4. The match deciding point came down to senior Krieger who fought from behind after dropping the first set. The senior won the second set 6-2 and won the tiebreaker 11-9, as the rest of the Cardinals stormed the court and rejoiced.

WEDNESDAY – TRINE (W, 9-0)

• After the comeback team victory the Cardinals had no let down the following day, as the team earned its second sweep of the trip. 
• Majority of the team won their matches in convincing fashion, while Ohler and Krieger were tested but passed with flying colors defeating their opponents by two points in each set. 

THURSDAY – MIDWAY (W, 5-4)

• The Cardinals once again showed their depth as the team won from the 3-6 singles position. Once again the team needed to win three straight matches in order to defeat Midway. 
• Yost had a crucial comeback after dropping the first set 2-6, he then responded by winning the next set in dominating fashion by a score of 6-1.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The Cardinals went 4-1 on their spring trip and ended with a three match winning streak, compared to a 2-3 record from a year ago.
• Krieger went 8-1 in all the matches that he participated in, as Yost went a perfect 5-0 from the sixth single slot.
• Otterbein trailed 4-2 with three matches still in play on two occasions and won three straight individual matches to claim 5-4 victories over Emerson and Midway.    

 
UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will be off next week and have time to rest and recover before hosting host Penn State Behrend on Saturday March 16 at 1 p.m.