It’s crunch time for the Oberlin men’s and women’s tennis teams.
The women’s team lost its final match of the regular season Thursday night to NCAC rival Kenyon, leaving them in third place in the conference. (Full results not available in time for publication). The loss pitted Oberlin against sixth place Ohio Wesleyan in the first round of the NCAC Championship Tournament. The tournament, which is being hosted by Oberlin, held its first round action this morning.
“This is the most important match in our conference,” Head Coach Don Hunsinger said before Thursday’s action. “It’s nice to have all the teams here.”
Meanwhile, the men will not play again until Tuesday, when they will play their final season match before their tournament begins next weekend.

The Yeowomen would have moved into second place in the conference with a victory over Kenyon, had they won their final match, but instead fell to 3-3 and third place in the NCAC.
They had been undefeated in the conference before losses to Allegheny, 5-4, on Saturday and first-place Denison, 8-1, on Tuesday. Oberlin was without first-year Ary Amerikaner, who plays number two singles and number one doubles, for both matches.
“We just didn’t handle [Amerikaner’s absence] well,” Hunsinger said. Amerikaner missed Thursday’s match as well, but was poised to return for the tournament on Friday.
Against Allegheny, Jessica Hauser, Whitney Reichheld, and Melanie Merz picked up the slack on singles, winning at third, fourth, and sixth, respectively. But the team was swept in doubles.
In Tuesday’s match, Reichheld produced Oberlin’s lone victory by taking fourth singles, but Hunsinger said that the play was improved from Saturday.
“Dension has a great women’s team,” he said. “We played much better against Denison than Allegheny, [but] that day they were the better team.”
Denison is 5-0 in the conference.
On the other side, the men have played three NCAC opponents — two in their division — since last Thursday, dropping all three matches.
They lost 6-1 to Kenyon last Thursday, but sophomore Jaime Frankel defeated Kenyon’s nationally-ranked Joe Freeman 6-4, 6-2, in first singles. Assistant Coach Adam Shoemaker said it was Frankel’s best match of the season.
“He has the talent physically,” Hunsinger said. “We keep seeing flashes of brilliance.”
The men traveled with the women to Allegheny on Saturday and Denison on Tuesday, losing 6-1 and 7-0, respectively. Nick Ogren and Laurance Kimbrough recorded the only Oberlin win of the week with their number three doubles victory at Allegheny.
“We played okay. We were shorthanded,” Shoemaker said of the Denison match. “We look forward to facing them again.”
While the women’s season will have wrapped up by tomorrow, the men will look to take another shot at NCAC opponents in their tournament. They are currently in fourth place in the NCAC East, making them one of the two lowest seeds in the tournament.
For the latest results from the NCAC Women’s Tennis Tournament, visit http://www.oberlin.edu/athletic.