Tigers Fail to Reach NCAA Championship Tournament

Casey Clagett	Rob Postma

The Tiger men's tennis team knew it had an uphill climb to make its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III championship tournament. That hill proved too steep last weekend at the NCAC Championships at Ohio Wesleyan, where the Tigers succombed to eventual champion Kenyon in the semifinals and wound up third in the conference.

The loss on Friday came after a 4-0 win over Allegheny in the quarterfinals on Friday morning. Then against Kenyon, the Tigers the doubles point and three of the singles matches decisively to end the match early. On Saturday, Wittenberg, the No. 2 seed from the West Division, rallied to claim a 4-1 victory over Wooster to finish third overall.

Despite the fact that the Tigers, who were ranked among the top 10 in the region for most of the year, missed out on a berth in the national tournament, they still have much to show for their efforts in 2001-02 and even more good things to look forward to next year. All six singles players finished with winning records, and every double combination that appeared in at least five matches did likewise.

Junior Casey Clagett (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Steamboat Springs) finished with a 23-3 mark at No. 1 singles, including a perfect 4-0 mark in the NCAC West. Sophomore Duby Lakos (Lynchburg, Va./Heritage) wound up at 16-8 in the No. 2 position. Junior Eric Cusick (Lima, Ohio/Senior) completed his season with an 18-9 overall mark at No. 3 singles and his second straight 4-0 record in the NCAC West. Junior Mike Herzog (Springfield, Ohio/Northwestern) finished with a 14-7 overall record. Junior Ben Hodgkiss-Lilly (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) finished at 13-9 at No. 5. And senior Rob Postma (Tallmadge, Ohio/Tallmadge) wound up with a 14-3 mark at No. 6.