ResultsHershey, PA - After rain forced a decision to play indoors at the Hershey Racquet Club, Messiah College men's tennis defeated Elizabethtown College in the Commonwealth Final 5-1 for their 5th Conference title in program history. The Falcons won two out of the three doubles matches and then won the No. 2, 3, and 4 singles matches.
Elizabethtown got their point early from the No. 2 doubles match, but didn't win any matches since. Michael Cannon and Alex Machalik jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then went on to defeat
Peter Shuck and
Zachary Brunner 8-4.
Michael Brookhart and
David Wichert won the No. 1 doubles match by the same score, and also kept the lead the entire match.
Collecting the important No. 3 doubles win was
Michael Kovacs and
Dustin Innerst with an 8-6 final.
"That really made my day," said head coach
Jon Arosell after the match. "It was great to see them win because they are both first-years and will be back stronger in the future."
Messiah began the singles matches with no troubles; five out of the six Falcons opened with a set win. Only three of them needed the win in order to clinch the necessary five points.
Peter Shuck and
Devin Esch won their first sets 6-1 and continued their efforts by winning their second sets 6-1 as well.
With a 4-1 lead and the other matches occurring at the same time, fans were shifting around the different courts to keep tabs on the action.
Eventually cheers came from the No. 2 court where
David Wichert came back from 4-1 down in his second set to lead 6-5. Wichert won his first set 6-4 so he just needed one more game to seal it.
Wichert got the winning point on a great passing shot when Cannon came up to the net for the volley. The senior captain realized his accomplishment, threw down his racket, and yelled back at the crowd.
"If there was a perfect way to end a perfect season, that was it," explained Arosell. "Dave has been great all four years here as a captain, and he just capped off a great season."
Wichert was also named the tournament's MVP by coach Arosell. The Falcons' season is not quite over yet, as they will continue on to the NCAA tournament starting on May 9. It will be Messiah's first appearance in the tournament since 2009.
