ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Fresh off their first regional ranking in school history, the Ursinus College men's tennis team polished off a strong season with an 8-1 Centennial Conference victory at Muhlenberg on Saturday.
Ursinus (12-7, 4-5), which was slotted 19th in Thursday's ITA Atlantic South regional poll, dropped only four total games in cruising to a sweep of doubles competition. Junior Chanton Phan and sophomore Peter Shields blanked David Woods and Steven Shoemaker, 8-0, at third doubles, and sophomore Max Oberholtzer teamed with freshman Paul Vecchio for an 8-1 rout against Michkey Schindler and Derrick Eng in the top flight. Senior captains Tyler Arsenault and Dalton Lynch combined for an 8-3 victory over Adam Halpern and Jordan Greene at second.
Eng's 6-3, 6-3 triumph at third singles was all that stood between Ursinus and a shutout of Muhlenberg (3-12, 1-8).
Oberholtzer led 6-1, 1-0 before Woods was forced to retire at first singles, and Shields coasted 6-0, 6-2 opposite Nicholas Oliveti at number six. Vecchio picked up a 6-0, 6-3 decision against Jordan Greene at fifth, and Phan posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Halpern at number four.
That left the final drama to Arsenault, who made his last collegiate match a memorable one by erasing five match points in a third-set super tiebreaker against Schindler at number two; the final tally was 6-3, 2-6, 11-9.
The men's tennis team finished with its best CC record since 2013, and Oberholtzer completed his standout sophomore season with a mark of 17-4 in singles play.