Morrison Nails Down First-Team All-NCAC Honors

Will Morrison

After being named Newcomer of the Year in the North Coast Athletic Conference as a freshman, junior Will Morrison (Delaware, Ohio / Rutherford B. Hayes) saw limited action his second season with The College of Wooster men’s tennis team due to a back injury. He made a triumphant return to the Fighting Scot lineup in 2006, earning the No. 1 singles position and picking up his second first-team all-conference honor as voted on by the coaches and announced by the league office on Tuesday, May 9.

Morrison wasn’t alone in earning league honors as junior Brian Ebbitts (Mission Hills, Kan. / Shawnee Mission East) landed his first distinction as a singles player with honorable mention accolades. Ebbitts and sophomore Ted Hickey (Sammamish, Wash. / Eastlake) also picked up their second-straight All-NCAC award as Wooster’s No. 1 doubles team, earning second-team honors this spring.

After making the finals of the back draw at the ITA Div. III Central Region Championships in the fall, Morrison compiled a 9-10 record this spring, all at the top spot in the Scots’ lineup. He finished with a team-high 14 wins overall on the season (14-12), including a 4-3 mark in conference play. Morrison ended the year with a come-from-behind 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory against Allegheny College’s No. 1 player, propelling Wooster to third-place at the NCAC Tournament.

Brian Ebbitts

Ted Hickey

Ebbitts, like Morrison, finished 9-10 in dual-match competition this spring and compiled a 10-13 overall mark on the year. He played three different flights in the singles lineup, going a combined 9-2 at Nos. 3 (6-2) and 4 (3-0). Also of note, Ebbitts started the spring season strong by winning each of his first six matches in straight sets.

Wooster’s No. 1 doubles team of Ebbitts and Hickey picked up first-team all-conference honors last season and began 2005-06 winning three of four matches at the regional tournament. They carried that momentum into the start of the spring, winning six of their first nine (6-3), but a late slide dropped the duo to a .500 record for the season (12-12). Ebbitts and Hickey rebounded in the NCAC Tournament with two wins to end the year, beating both Kenyon College’s and Allegheny’s No. 1 teams by scores of 8-3 and 8-5, respectively.

As a team, Wooster secured third-place in the NCAC for the second consecutive season after posting wins over Oberlin College (4-2) and Allegheny (4-3) at the season-ending conference tourney. The Scots wound up with a 12-9 record overall on the season.