BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College men’s tennis team competed last weekend (Friday-Sunday, October 3-5, 2008) at the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) Central Region Tournament at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. According to veteran Head Coach Brian Rector, his Yellow Jacket team played well.

 

“We played pretty well for the first competitive matches this fall,” said Rector, who is the winningest men’s tennis coach in B-W, Ohio Athletic Conference and Ohio Collegiate history with a 326-70 career record with an .823 winning percentage.

 

“The first day, we played fairly well, and the second day, I thought we played even better,” said Rector. “A couple of our guys played extremely well against ranked competition, and that was encouraging.  Overall, I was pleased with our effort and play and continue to take an optimistic view as we head toward our spring season.”

 

You can access entire results at the Tournament Website.

 

The Division III collegiate tennis season is split between fall (two tournaments) and spring (dual match play and Ohio Athletic Conference and NCAA championship tournaments). B-W may play one more dual match before it ends its fall season, but that is tenative right now.

 

In singles play, senior number one player Jim Kucera (Mentor) lost his first match, 6-3 and 6-3, and moved intoo the consolation round. There, he defeated Jarrod Howlett of Kalamazoo (Mich.) College, 6-4 and 6-2, and then beat Joseph Glass of Transylvania (Ky.) University, 6-2 and 6-1, before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Chris Gordon of Washington University (Mo.), 6-1 and 6-2.

 

No.2 player, sophomore Tyler Adams (Wheelersburg), won his first match against Alex Winne of the University of Chicago (Ill.), 6-3, 4-6 and 6-3, before being eliminated by Justin Miller from Wheaton (Ill.) College, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round.

 

No.3 player, freshman Alex Trzeciak (Avon Lake), lost his first round match, 6-3 and 6-3. He then rebounded to beat 17th-seeded Jan Stefanski of the University of Chicago, 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (10-7 in the pro-set tie-breaker) before being eliminated by Daniel Verhave of Kenyon, 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (15-13 in the tie-breaker).

 

No.4 player, junior Andy Redd (Archbold), lost his first match, 6-2 and 6-1, and was eliminated in the consolation round, 6-4 and 6-1. No.5 player, sophomore Sam Burris (Wooster) lost his first match, 6-2 and 6-2, and was eliminated in the consolation round, 6-0 and 6-1. No.6 player, sophomore Bobby Irwin (Ashland/ Senior), lost his first match, 6-3 and 6-3, and was eliminated in the consolation round, 6-3 and 6-2.

 

In doubles play, the No.1 duo of Kucera and Adams, lost their first match to a pair from Washington Univesity, 8-3, then rebounded to beat a duo from the University of Chicago, 9-8 (7-5 in the tie-breaker), before losing to a pair from Denison, 9-8. The No.2 tandem of Trzeciak and Redd lost their first match 8-1 to a duo from Denison and then lost to the No.1 pair from Ohio Northern, 9-7. The No.3 tandem of Burris and Irwin lost to the No.7-seeds from Kenyon, 8-0, in their first match and then were eliminated in the consolation round by a pair from Albion (Mich.) College, 8-0.

 

A year ago, the Yellow Jackets finished 20-5 overall and 8-1 in the OAC in dual matches and second in the OAC Tournament. B-W was ranked 24th in the final ITA Central Region poll.

 

FOR  MORE  INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at (440) 826-2327 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu.  To contact Head CoachBrian Rector, please call him at  (440) 826-3819 or e-mail him at brector@bw.edu.  The athletics FAX can be reached at (440) 826-2192.  More information on  women's tennis may be accessed on the B-W athletics page at www.bw.edu/athletics.