FINAL RESULTS

MASON, Ohio – Playing to play again. That's what the month of May becomes about for college athletics entering the postseason…

… and that's exactly what the Otterbein men's program delivered Friday afternoon in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament semifinals at the Lindner Tennis Center. The No. 2 seed Cardinals opened strong and never looked back, eliminating No. 3 Ohio Northern by a final count of 5-0.

It marked the second victory against ONU for Otterbein this season, having also topped the Polar Bears 6-3 back in the first week April. This time, however, proves more notable in sending the Cards to their first OAC Championship match since 2015.

Otterbein wasted little time grabbing momentum in this semifinal opportunity, winning all three doubles courts to open a sizeable 3-0 lead. Connor Radune and Jared Deel emerged first on the third court, 8-2, while the duos of Brandon Wall/Jamie Price and Tom Ohler/Jake McDivitt had to work a bit hard before prevailing 8-5.

The Cardinals then worked quickly to put the finishing touches on in singles play. Otterbein was actually trailing on half of the six courts, but none of that would matter as McDivitt (4) and Ohler (5) solidified their matches first.

McDivitt cruised against Kavya Desai by counts of 6-1, 6-3 and Ohler was triumphant 7-5, 6-1. At the time of conclusion, Brandon Wall was ahead of Vinh Thai 6-1, 1-0 on the top court.

The Cardinals now stand 6-1 on the season as a group while the Polar Bears end their campaign at 4-3.

SATURDAY PREVIEW:
Otterbein's last finals appearance in 2015 came against John Carroll, ironically the same opponent they will take on for the trophy this time around. The Blue Streaks slipped by with a narrow 5-4 victory in the last championship meeting. McDivitt's older brother, Zach, was the only Cardinal to go 2-0 that day.

The 2021 OAC champion will receive the league's automatic bid into the upcoming NCAA Championships.