The 2008 spring season has gotten off to an exciting start for the Oberlin men’s tennis team, which stands at 4-3 after seven contests. The Yeomen were polled by the North Coast Athletic Conference to finish in sixth place in the conference, having claimed two victories in two conference games. This puts them in poll position to finish better than sixth as they look to assert themselves as a force in the NCAC.

Head Coach Adam Shoemaker believes in the ability of the team and his positive energy seems to be rubbing off on the players. Shoemaker said, “We hope to finish amongst the top four teams in the conference this season. We were recently polled to finish sixth but I strongly believe that we can do better than that.”

The Yeomen opened their season at home against Malone College. Senior Chris Pray got the February 16 contest underway with a victory in the number one singles match, but Oberlin’s progress was slowed by the Malone team, which seemed to be coming back with two victories in a row. The Oberlin side took control from there, proceeding to claim victories in the next six matches as they won the contest 7-2. Oberlin won all three of its doubles contests that day, dropping points only in the singles matches.

A week later, Oberlin was in action again at the Heisman Field House against rival Case Western Reserve University. Once again, the score at the end of the meet was 7-2. This time, however, the Yeomen found themselves on the receiving end of the spanking, as they were only able to claim one victory in the singles contests and one in the doubles.

The Yeomen had little rest before the next day, February 24, when they played against Wittenberg University in the first conference game of the season. Eager to impress after the disappointing showing against Case, the Yeomen won the first eight matches to claim victory 8-1. The victory brought the trio of home games to an encouraging end as the Yeomen stood at 2-1 overall.

The next match up was the first time on the road for the Yeomen as they traveled to Mount Union College on February 28. The Mount Union match was the first real contest for the Yeomen with the points at 4-4 when the final match got underway. Oberlin had dropped two of three doubles matches but were ahead 3-2 in the singles.

Junior David Midler contributed two points to the team with victories in both his singles and doubles contests for the Yeomen. His partner in number three doubles was first-year Leo Sprinzen, who also claimed a victory in his singles match.

First-year Peter Meckel was the tie-breaker in his first appearance this spring. Meckel played hard, bringing the best out of his opponent, but was unable to turn his hard work into gold as he lost 3-6, 6-7, 8-10 to the opposition. With a victory in that last match, Mount Union claimed the winover Oberlin who now stood at 2-2 on the season.

Next, Oberlin was in action away at Ohio Wesleyan University in the second conference contest of the season. As if stimulated by the loss in the preceding game, the Yeomen dominated at the March 1 contest, winning all three doubles contests and the first three singles matches to jump out to a 6-0 lead. With the victory already in the bag, Oberlin dropped two matches, but Sprinzen closed things with a victory as Oberlin won 7-2 to garner their second conference win.

Oberlin resumed competition at home on March 8 with a tie against Hope College. Hope started off strong with two victories in the doubles contests and then went on to win the first four singles matches on their way to a 6-3 victory over the Yeomen. Oberlin was also scheduled for a March 8 match against John Carroll University but the Ohio weather intervened.

With the loss to Hope, Oberlin dropped to 3-3 overall with a 2-0 record in conference competition. At that point, the team’s wins formed a pattern of alternating wins and losses, an interesting trend to start the season. In keeping with the pattern, a victory was expected from the next contest on March 11 when Oberlin hosted Grove City College.

The Oberlin tennis Yeomen brought their A-game to the courts against Grove City College as they won all the doubles match-ups and claimed three victories in the singles contests to win the meet 6-3. Senior Ezra Goldman was promoted to the number one doubles spot where he played along side Pray and claimed a victory for Oberlin. With that victory, Oberlin improved to 4-3 overall, maintaining a perfect 2-0 in conference action.

Oberlin men’s tennis will be in action next against Washington and Jefferson College on March 15. This time, the team looks to break the trend and claim its first set of back-to-back victories for the season.