Lords win NCACs, Ladies fall short
Mark Motheral
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Sports
"We came, we saw, we conquered," Charlie Brody '10 said to summarize how the Lords tennis team, ranked eighth nationally, went about devastating its competition last weekend at the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament en route to its third consecutive conference championship.
Prior to the tournament's championship match, the Lords were untouchable. In the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, Kenyon found little trouble dispatching the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops and the Wittenberg Tigers, respectively. Although the Lords used immensely weakened line-ups against both squads, they did not concede a single set in either contest. On Saturday, April 25, in the final round of the competition, Kenyon faced the 23rd-ranked Denison Big Red in a rematch of a recent trouncing that went in favor of the Lords. Initially, the bout between the rival squads was hotly contested, with all three doubles matches appearing to be a seesaw affair. As if on cue, though, all three Lords' doubles teams took control of their opponents after a few games. Michael Greenberg '10 recognized that he and his partner, Will VandenBerg '10, started out slowly but finished well, saying: "We had many chances to break early on but didn't convert. We were comfortable right where we were because we were holding easy and knew it was only a matter of converting one or two break points that would enable us run away with it." Greenberg and VandenBerg did, in fact, run away with the match, winning with a final score of 8-4.
The other two Lords doubles teams that contributed to a sweep of the doubles points were Josh Stiles '12 and Brody, prevailing 8-4 at second doubles, and Tomas Piskacek '11 and Jeremy Polster '11, triumphing 8-3 at third doubles. Head Coach Scott Thielke expressed his satisfaction with the team's doubles play, saying: "Our men played our best doubles of the year. So once we did so well in doubles I knew we had it won. It would have been too hard for Denison to come back from 3-0 down."
Prior to the tournament's championship match, the Lords were untouchable. In the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, Kenyon found little trouble dispatching the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops and the Wittenberg Tigers, respectively. Although the Lords used immensely weakened line-ups against both squads, they did not concede a single set in either contest. On Saturday, April 25, in the final round of the competition, Kenyon faced the 23rd-ranked Denison Big Red in a rematch of a recent trouncing that went in favor of the Lords. Initially, the bout between the rival squads was hotly contested, with all three doubles matches appearing to be a seesaw affair. As if on cue, though, all three Lords' doubles teams took control of their opponents after a few games. Michael Greenberg '10 recognized that he and his partner, Will VandenBerg '10, started out slowly but finished well, saying: "We had many chances to break early on but didn't convert. We were comfortable right where we were because we were holding easy and knew it was only a matter of converting one or two break points that would enable us run away with it." Greenberg and VandenBerg did, in fact, run away with the match, winning with a final score of 8-4.
The other two Lords doubles teams that contributed to a sweep of the doubles points were Josh Stiles '12 and Brody, prevailing 8-4 at second doubles, and Tomas Piskacek '11 and Jeremy Polster '11, triumphing 8-3 at third doubles. Head Coach Scott Thielke expressed his satisfaction with the team's doubles play, saying: "Our men played our best doubles of the year. So once we did so well in doubles I knew we had it won. It would have been too hard for Denison to come back from 3-0 down."
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