The Malone College men’s tennis team came stomping into Oberlin on Saturday only to be swept by the Yeomen.
Led by junior captain Jamie Frankel, the Oberlin men’s tennis team shut out Malone, who had defeated the Yeomen in their previous meeting, and won 7-0.
Approaching the match the Yeomen were ready and raring to go.
“My teammates and I knew going into the match that Malone had lost like three players from their lineup,” sophomore Nick Ogren said. “With the addition of two very good freshmen to our own lineup, we knew that anything other than a victory would be unacceptable.”
The Yeomen took advantage of several mismatches as each of the singles contests ended in straight sets. Frankel cruised in his first singles match with Derek Schlidt, 6-0, 6-0, while junior Marian Bocek defeated opponent Chad Schmock at the number two spot, winning 6-1, 6-2.
“I was more focused this week,” Frankel said.
In the third singles Ogren took a 1-0 lead early in the first match and never looked back. He won 6-0 and 6-3 over Adam Carrick. At fourth singles, sophomore Mark Knee pounced on Adam Sabados and defeated him 6-0, 6-2, while first-year David Cotter overwhelmed Brian Paul at fifth singles, 6-1, 6-1. Rounding out the singles sweep was first-year Jimmy Rosenheim who has too much for Malone’s Shawn Henly. He took the sixth singles victory, 6-0, 6-2.
This carried over to doubles as the Yeomen went a perfect 3-0.
Frankel and Cotter teamed up for an 8-1 performance over the top two Malone players while Bocek and Ogren combined to defeat Carrick and Sabados, 8-1, at number two doubles. In the third doubles match sophomores Ananya Balaram and Brad White also came away with an 8-1 win.
With the victory over Malone the team improved to 1-1 on the season, leaving a better taste in their mouths than the loss to Albion.
“I feel very positive,” said Knee. “We are much better than last year. We have the potential to surprise some people.”
“There’s no question we’re a better team this year,” said Ogren. “Everyone returning from last year has drastically improved, and the two freshmen, Dave and Jim, are extremely talented players. It’s almost scary how good they can and will be.”
“I have seen improvement from everyone,” head coach Don Hunsinger said.
“A 13-win season is what we are aiming for,” Frankel added.
The Yeomen will be looking to take another step toward that goal as they march into Otterbein College this weekend. “They are a team we should beat,” Frankel said of the Cardinals. “With a good week of practice we should do just that.”