Scots Out Dueled at Home by Walsh Cavaliers 4-3

The College of Wooster men's tennis team's luck ran out against Walsh University, as the visiting Cavaliers pulled out some tight contests to win the non-conference affair by one point, 4-3, at the D.J. Hard Tennis Courts in Wooster, Ohio. The Scots fall to 8-2 on the year, while Walsh improves to 7-4.

Walsh took two of the three doubles matches to secure the first point of the day, with only Wooster's pair of senior Chris Mickelson and freshman Grant D'Augustine winning their contest at No. 3 (8-4).

The Cavaliers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match after sweeping by the Scots top two singles players in straight sets, but Wooster battled back to win the next three singles matches and tie the contest.

Freshman Ted Hickey won easily at the No. 6 position 6-1, 6-2 and sophomore Brian Ebbitts won his match at fifth singles in three sets (6-4, 4-6, 6-3). Senior Nikhil Gonsalves tied things up by winning his match via tiebreakers 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6), setting the stage for the No. 3 singles match up.

Freshman Grant D'Augustine was pitted against a familiar face to the local area, senior Chris Pleska, a graduate of Wooster High School. Pleska took the first set 6-2, but D'Augustine bounced back to take the second by the same score. The final set came down to the wire, but the former Wooster General pulled out the 6-4 win, giving Walsh the one-point victory.

The Scots will have to recover quickly from the loss, as they head to Oberlin College tomorrow (April 5) for their first North Coast Athletic Conference match of the season. The match is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. in Oberlin's Philips Gym.