No. 2 seed Ohio Northern rallies for 5-3 victory over No. 3 seed JCU in semifinals of OAC Tournament

Chris Dohner

By Tim Glon

| Box Score | Tournament Site |

MASON -- No. 2 seeded Ohio Northern rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat  No. 3 seed John Carroll 5-3 in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's tennis Tournament Friday afternoon at the Lindner Tennis Center.

The Polar Bears (14-5) advance to the finals Saturday morning at 10 am against top-seeded Mount Union, who defeated fourth-seeded Baldwin-Wallace 5-3 earlier on Friday in the other semifinal match.

The Blue Streaks end their season at 11-10.

John Carroll took a 2-1 lead after doubles play, winning the Nos. 2 and 3 doubles points.

Ryan Paul and Nick Kowalczyk gave ONU a 1-0 lead by defeating Matt Tomayko and Chad Ruehs 8-4 at the No. 1 doubles spot.

JCU rallied with an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles by James Steward and Mike Finissi over Jeff Carter and Chris Dohner to tie the match at 1-1.

Trailing 7-3, JCU's Ross Venzke and Mike Huelsman rallied by winning six consecutive games to win the set 9-7 over Jay Vaidya and Matt Dutro.

Steward defeated Paul 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles to increase JCU's lead to 3-1.

But it was all Polar Bears from there, as Ohio Northern rattled off victories at Nos. 3-6 singles in a span of about 30 minutes.

First, Carter defeated Finissi 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. Vaidya then topped Ross Venzke 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles moments later to tie the match at 3-3.

Andrew Korba then gave the Polar Bears a 4-3 lead with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Mike Huelsman at No. 6 singles.

Dohner the closed out the match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tomyako at No. 3 singles, sending Ohio Northern into the championship game of the OAC Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.