Scots Host Ohio Northern Thursday in Lone Action

Dave Albrechta

Having returned from its spring break trip to Hilton Head, S.C., The College of Wooster has just about a month of regular dual matches to prepare for the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. One of those matches will be this Thursday, March 27, as defending Ohio Athletic Conference champ Ohio Northern University (5-3) visits Wooster for a 4 p.m. match-up. Last spring, the Fighting Scots edged Ohio Northern 5-4, despite being without the services of its No. 2 and No. 3 singles players.

Spring Break Recap: From March 11-21, Wooster won four of seven matches during its trip to Hilton Head, S.C., which upped the Scots’ season record to 4-5.

Highlighting Wooster’s annual southern swing were 8-1 victories in the opener versus conference foe Ohio Wesleyan University and in the finale against Hobart College. In between, there were several close matches, with the Scots getting past both the University of Texas-Dallas and Messiah College by 6-3 scores and losing hard-fought decisions to Dickinson College (2-7) as well as to traditionally strong regional foes Hope College (3-6) and the University of St. Thomas (3-6).

Heading Wooster’s singles lineup was Dave Albrechta (Fremont, Ohio / Fremont Ross), who picked up wins versus Ohio Wesleyan (6-3, 7-5) and Hobart (6-3, 1-6, 6-1). Grant D’Augustine (Cincinnati, Ohio / Turpin) was at No. 2 for all seven matches, triumphing four times, and Pat Grab (Erie, Pa. / Cathedral Prep) was the team’s most successful player in the top half, producing a 5-2 record. In fact, Grab’s five victories came in the last five matches.

Chris Collen (Granville, Ohio / Granville) one-upped Grab with six wins while playing at either No. 5 or No. 6, and Jeremy Dominik (Saint Marys, Ohio / Memorial) prevailed three times at fourth singles. Also, Ethan Arenstein (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore) contributed a couple of singles victories.

D’Augustine and Grab spent the majority of time together at the top of the doubles lineup, splitting six such matches and moving their career record to 30-15. Albrechta and Arenstein was a successful tandem at No. 2, going 5-1 at that position, and Dominik and Andrew Garnett (Boulder, Colo. / Fairview) was the primary pairing at No. 3 (1-4).