Men’s tennis
The Ohio Northern men's tennis program posted a 9-0 sweep over Ohio Athletic Conference foe Marietta during the OAC Tennis Fest Saturday at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason, stretching its current win streak to four matches and maintaining its undefeated league record in the 2018-19 campaign.
With the victory, the Polar Bears improve to 9-6 overall and 3-0 in the OAC. The Pioneers fall to 6-10 overall and 1-4 in conference play with the loss.
Junior Connor Christian (Gallipolis/Gallia Academy), sophomore Vinh Thai (Galloway/St. Charles), and freshman Noah Elliott (Hilliard/Davidson) guided the Polar Bear efforts after winning two matches each in Saturday's conference showdown. All nine Ohio Northern players contributed one win against the Pioneers.
Northern dropped just four games en route to sweeping all three doubles matches.
Thai and Elliott blanked MC's Shane Spencer/Jack Hirschfield 8-0 on the No. 1 court to top the performances. In addition, sophomore Hoang Do (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) and freshman Zach Beaschler (Ada) won at No. 2 doubles while Christian and freshman Nate Meadors (Dublin/Jerome) claimed a victory in the No. 3 slot with similar 8-2 scorelines.
In singles action, Christian led ONU with a 6-0, 6-0 triumph on the No. 4 court for his second win Saturday. Thai and Elliott joined their teammate with two wins after capturing 6-2, 6-0 and 6-2, 1-0 (retired) victories in the No. 1 and No. 2 slots, respectively.
Meanwhile, freshman Andrew Cochran (Wooster) defeated Eric DeLong 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3 singles; sophomore Joji Imatomi (Yokohama, Japan/Kamakura Gakuen) produced a 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8 superbreaker victory in the No. 5 role; and sophomore Joshua McClure (Mount Vernon) recorded a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles to complete the sweep.
The Polar Bears were originally slated to play Muskingum on Saturday morning. However, the match was postponed due to an incomplete lineup for MU.
Ohio Northern will return to action on Tuesday with a conference matchup at Mount Union.
Women’s tennis
The Ohio Northern women's tennis team wrapped up the final day of the OAC Tennis Fest at the Lindner Family Tennis Center with 9-0 victories over Muskingum, Marietta and Earlham (Ind.) on Saturday.
The Polar Bears (17-4 overall, 5-0 Ohio Athletic Conference) were led by freshman Olivia Schrager (Dayton/Miami Valley) and junior Mackenzie Wills (Ada), who each posted perfect 6-0 records on the day.
Schrager was 1-0 at No. 1 singles and 2-0 at No. 2 singles and combined with freshman Abigail Staskiewicz (Mars, Pa./Oakland Catholic) to go 2-0 at No. 1 doubles and 1-0 at No. 2 doubles.
Wills was 1-0 at No. 2 singles and 2-0 at No. 3 singles. She also was 1-0 at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 doubles on the day.
Staskiewicz, senior Ashley Ochsenhirt (Birmingham, Ala./Briarwood Christian) and junior Katie Curry (Oxford/Talawanda) each posted 5-0 records.
Junior Jordan Dodson (Worthington) went 4-0 on the day and freshman Kayleigh Cummins (Galena/Big Walnut) was 2-0 on the day.
ONU finished the OAC Tennis Fest with a 4-0 record after sweeping Franciscan 9-0 on Friday.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Wednesday with a 3:30 pm match at Capital.
