Men's Tennis advances to NCAA Regional second round with 5-0 win over Wilkes (Pa.)

By: Monique Bowman

GAMBIER — The Ohio Northern men's tennis team advanced to the second round of the 2011 NCAA Regional Tournament with a 5-0 sweep of Wilkes (Pa.) Friday afternoon at Kenyon's Outdoor Tennis Courts.

The Polar Bears (18-3) advance to the second round of the tournament and will face off against host and No. 7-ranked Kenyon Saturday at 11 a.m. The Colonels' season ends with an 11-4 record.

"Wilkes is a great team," head coach Bob Rohan said. "We were able to get on top of them in doubles and I think that's what set the tone for us. We knew they were good in singles so we couldn't just rest on our laurels facing such a good team."

Junior Michael Kathary (Columbus/Dublin Scioto) and freshman Do Thai (Columbus/Bishop Ready) picked up the first doubles win, 8-4, over Dakkota Deem and Jeremy Nolt at No. 2 doubles. No. 1 doubles partners Joey Frank (Gahanna/Columbus Academy) andNick Kowalczyk (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) then took an 8-2 win over Evan Katz and Wes McCollum.

Senior Jeff Carter (Wilmington) and junior Andrew Korba (Steetsboro/Solon) then picked up an 8-5 win over Wilkes' Clarke Freeman and Alex Makos.

Northern finished out the day with wins at No. 2 and No. 4 singles. Kathary picked up the No. 2 singles win 6-1, 6-1 over Katz, followed by Kowalczyk's No. 4 singles win over Deem, 6-2, 6-3.

Looking toward Saturday morning, the Lords are 17-3 overall.

"Kenyon is a great team in a great conference so it's not going to be easy to just walk in and take something from them," Rohan said. "We expect a tough match but if we keep strong in doubles play we can certainly build some momentum."