COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Max Oberholtzer dialed up two more dominating singles victories as the Ursinus College men's tennis team split a doubleheader in its home opener on Saturday.
The Bears dismantled Rutgers-Camden, 9-0, before drawing the short end of a trio of three-set singles matches in a 7-2 setback to a strong Goucher outfit in the nightcap.
Ursinus 9, Rutgers-Camden 0
The Bears could hardly have dreamed of a more dominant start to their post-spring break schedule, rolling to a lopsided shutout of the Scarlet Raptors that included three 6-0, 6-0 singles results and only six total games lost.
In his collegiate debut, Jang combined with fellow rookie Kyle Bookman for an 8-0 clean sheet at third doubles. Juniors Paul Vecchio and Jake Lachowicz lost only one game at number two, and freshman Mason Groff joined sophomore Connor DeFaber-Schumacher for a matching 8-1 result in their first appearance together at first doubles.
The doubles win was the 30th of Vecchio's career, making him the eighth player at Ursinus to hit that standard.
Senior Max Oberholtzer scored an easy 6-0, 6-0 blanking at number one singles, making him the fourth player in program history to attain 70 career victories. Vecchio was equally dominant at second singles, and Jang produced the Bears' third double bagel in his first singles debut at number six.
Ursinus conceded just four games over the six courts. DeFaber-Schumacher was a 6-1, 6-0 winner at number three, and Bookman cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 final at number five. Lachowicz' match at fourth singles was the most competitive, but still resulted in a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory for the Bears' junior.
Goucher 7, Ursinus 2
Ursinus played a Goucher team that came in with a sparkling 10-2 record to the hilt, but three three-setters went the way of the Gophers to swing a highly competitive showdown toward the visitors.
After Goucher picked up wins at first and third doubles, Groff and DeFaber-Schumacher gave the Bears a pulse by grinding out an 8-6 victory over Michael Herman and Frankie Mullinix at number two.
Oberholtzer was the lone singles victor for the hosts, controlling play against Tetsuya Ota en route to a 6-3, 6-1 result that ran his dual mark to 6-1 on the season.
On the second, third, and fourth courts, the Gophers lost the first set before rallying to take all three in the third. Lachowicz dropped a 10-7 super tiebreaker, while Vecchio came up just short in a marathon at third singles against Herman, who battled to a 7-5 victory in a third set that went all the way to a tiebreaker and was the last match off the court despite being first on.
Oberholtzer moved into a tie for fourth in school history with his 39th career singles win.
Up Next
The Bears stay at home to open Centennial Conference play against Franklin & Marshall next Saturday.