COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's tennis team made sure its first Centennial Conference win was a memorable one. In a slugfest that went long enough to require the final two singles courts to be contested under the lights and featured four three-set singles battles and two doubles matches that went to tiebreakers, the Bears came away with a 5-4 victory over Washington College, their first against a regionally ranked opponent in school history.
Despite its 3-9 record coming in, Washington College (3-10, 1-3) was something of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Eight of the Shoremen's 12 matches had been against regionally ranked squads – six of which were also nationally ranked – and the visitors were four days removed from a win over Salisbury, helping them move into the newest set of Atlantic South rankings at No. 15. Additionally, Ursinus had beaten Washington College only twice in program history – the first in 1983, and the second coming 30 years later.
But Ursinus (9-4, 1-4) proved its mettle, locking up the match by winning three straight singles courts following a tightly contested doubles clash.
After senior captains Tyler Arsenault and Dalton Lynch picked up an 8-2 result at second doubles, the other two courts each went the distance. Washington College's third team of Zachary Novick and Jake Sandler went on to post a 7-2 triumph in their tiebreaker, but Ursinus sophomore Max Oberholtzer and freshman Paul Vecchio returned the favor in the first flight. The Bears' top tandem outlasted the Shoremen pairing of Ryland Byrd and Justin Panepinto, eventually clinching a 7-5 victory on their seventh match point.
Four of the six singles matches went to a third set, but the Bears took care of the two that didn't and clinched their historic result with one that did. Oberholtzer took down Byrd by a 6-3, 6-3 count at number one, and Vecchio logged a 6-1, 6-4 decision at number five.
That placed Ursinus on the brink of perhaps the biggest win in program history, and junior Chanton Phan did the honors. The transfer came through with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory in the fourth flight, giving the Bears an insurmountable 5-1 lead. The Shoremen won three-set thrillers at two, three, and six to close the marathon match, but by then it was too late.
Oberholtzer continued his impressive campaign at the top of the lineup, bumping his dual-match singles record to 11-2.
The Bears head to The Battlefield for a CC match with Gettysburg on Saturday before coming home to host Wilkes – which is ranked 18th in the Atlantic South – on Sunday.