Men's tennis loses to Wabash, plays Carnegie Saturday

The men's tennis team fought hard this past Saturday, but were unable to pull out a victory against Wabash University and lost 4-3. The men will meet them again in April.

Captain senior Koji Ebersole spoke about his hopes for the team this season and said, "The best thing to work for is that everyone on our team will play up to their ability. If you've seen us practice then you know we all have mad skills, but we need to incorporate all that potential during matches."

The match started out against the Yeomen. Oberlin's number one singles, first-year Tony Choi, was defeated by Mark Ratner 6-1, 6-3. Number two and three singles both lost in three sets. Koji Ebersole, at number two, lost to Dan Fair 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. At number three, sophomore Andrew Kim was defeated by Peter Suffield 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Things turned around later, as the men took their three wins at fourth, fifth, and sixth singles: sophomore Sam Steckley defeated Roger Sullivan 6-2, 6-4, sophomore Mike O'Connell conquered Todd Witte 6-4, 6-4, and sophomore Eric Shin beat Bastian Wouscik in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-4) in the third set tie breaker.

The men paired off to gain the doubles points that also are much needed to beat a team. "Doubles set the tone for the match," said Ebersole. Oberlin's number one team, Ebersole and O'Connell, defeated Ratner and Fair 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. Shin and first-year Wes Clapp, the number three team, could not pull out over Wouscik and Ryan Will 1-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-1.

The men's next match is this Saturday against Carnegie Mellon University.