FINAL RESULTS

MASON, Ohio – It was a tough ending to an otherwise strong season for the Otterbein men's tennis team on Saturday morning, as the top-seeded Cardinals unfortunately fell to No. 3 seed Ohio Northern in the championship match of the OAC Tournament.

The Cards, playing for their first league title in nine years, are forced to rest the campaign with a 14-6 overall record after sharing the Ohio Athletic Conference regular-season crown.

Ohio Northern, which lost 7-2 against Otterbein just a few weeks ago, claimed a few more courts this time around to prevail 5-2. The Polar Bears now receive an automatic bid to compete in the upcoming NCAA Championships.

This rematch saw a few players on both sides lacing up in different spots, most notably Otterbein's Will Newberry (fifth singles, third doubles) in street clothes after a recent injury. Nonetheless, the Cardinals implemented the same lineup they have over the past three matches in looking to secure one more W…

But ONU had different plans in the role of spoiler. Unlike the first meeting (when Otterbein swept the doubles scene), the Bears worked for an early 2-1 advantage in taking courts two and three. Brandon Wall and Jamie Price tallied an 8-4 victory on the top line… but that was sandwiched between 8-5 and 8-5 decisions on the ONU side.

The two sides traded points as singles play commenced, starting with ONU claiming the sixth line fairly quickly. Wall responded up above to best counterpart ace Tristan Munteanu by 6-3, 6-0 margins.

Senior Boban Mihajlov, recently moving up a line to fifth singles, battled admirably in his final college match before resting short in a 6-4, 6-2 outcome. Jake McDivitt was also right in the mix a line above, going point-for-point before dropping the opener (7-5) and then a 6-3 rebuttal.

Joshua Mammen and Jamie Price were in third-set dogfights on their respective courts that went unfinished.

Otterbein will look to regroup in the offseason and replace a few veteran standouts, with sights turning to 2023-24.