Tigers Finish MIAA-NCAC Challenge With 1-2 Mark
Wittenberg starts strong with a win over Calvin before falling to Hope and Alma.
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - The Wittenberg Tigers finished with one win and two losses in the MIAA-NCAC Challenge, hosted by Wabash.
The Tigers opened with a 5-3 victory over Calvin before faltering in losses to Hope (7-2) and Alma (5-4) to round out the weekend. The weekend's results left Wittenberg with an 11-6 overall record heading into the final two matches of the regular season.
Against Calvin, the Tigers overcame a 2-1 deficit created by the doubles results with four wins in the five singles matches that were completed. Sophomore Stas Pakhomov (Richmond, British Columbia/Sir Winston Churchill) was a winner at No. 1 singles and junior Alexey Topolyanskiy (Moscow, Russia/School 712) added a win at No. 2 singles. Those two also paired for the win at No. 1 doubles.
Senior Tyler Strong (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) added a win at No. 4 singles, and sophomore Mitchell Patterson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) rounded things out with a victory at No. 6 singles.
Later in the day, Topolyanskiy and Pakhomov flipped singles positions but the results were the same against Hope as both won in straight sets. However, the Tigers were unable to overcome a doubles sweep as Hope pulled away with singles wins at the 3 through 6 positions.
The event concluded for Wittenberg with a narrow defeat against Alma. Topolyanskiy and Strong paired up to win at No. 2 doubles this time, but the Tigers again found themselves in a hole headed to singles. Alma held on for the victory, despite wins by Pakhomov at No. 1, Topolyanskiy at No. 2 and Patterson at No. 6.