COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Senior captain Tyler Arsenault moved to the cusp of the 100-win mark as the Ursinus College men's tennis team extended the best start in school history on Saturday, shutting out Lebanon Valley and topping Juniata, 6-3, to remain undefeated on the season at 7-0.
Arsenault picked up three wins in four matches to get within one of becoming only the second player in program history to reach the century mark.
In the opener against Lebanon Valley, juniors Chanton Phan and Henry Burke put Ursinus ahead with an 8-1 rout at third doubles, and sophomore Max Oberholtzer joined freshman Paul Vecchio to win by the same count in the first flight. Arsenault and fellow senior captain Dalton Lynch polished off the sweep with an 8-3 win at second doubles.
Oberholtzer, Arsenault, and Lynch all cruised to 6-0, 6-1 victories on the first three singles courts for the Bears, and sophomore Peter Shields rolled 6-2, 6-0 at number four. Junior Jordan Hodess collected a 6-3, 6-3 triumph at number five, and freshman Jake Lachowicz completed the shutout with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at sixth singles.
The nightcap opposite Juniata was a tightly contested affair. After Phan and Shields opened the match with an 8-1 victory at third doubles, Arsenault and Lynch doubled the advantage courtesy of an 8-4 final in the second flight. Trailing 7-5, Oberholtzer and Vecchio reeled off four unanswered games to conclude a sweep of doubles play with a 9-7 thriller in the first flight.
Phan's 6-1, 6-3 win at fourth singles put Ursinus on the cusp of victory, and Oberholtzer clinched it with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 verdict at first singles.
Vecchio was a 6-1, 6-3 winner at fifth singles, stretching his dual-meet singles mark to 5-0.
Arsenault won his first set, 6-0, at second singles, but Juniata's Roy Liberman rallied back to claim the next two sets, the last by a 7-5 margin, to deny the Bear captain his piece of history.
Arsenault will shoot for his 100th win when Ursinus welcomes Swarthmore to the Bailey Courts in the Centennial Conference opener on Wednesday, March 23.