The West Chester men’s tennis squad clinched its first ever regular season division title on Saturday April 13 with their win against Mercyhurst. With that win, they received the number one seed going into the PSAC Postseason Tournament.
Since that win against Mercyhurst, they went 1-1 in their final two regular season games, beating Gloucester County College, but losing their first PSAC division game of the year to Edinboro, 5-4. This all set up for a semifinal matchup with that same Edinboro team on Friday.
The women’s squad’s regular season has been over for quite some time and they were preparing for their Quarter Final matchup against Millersville.
The women’s team faced Millersville once during the regular season and won that matchup 5-4. West Chester was the No. 2 seed facing the No. 3 seed of Millersville. Millersville took the first two doubles matches 8-0, 8-5. West Chester then bounced back with a doubles win 8-6. West Chester then won the first three singles matches as Alex Santoro defeated Elizabeth Wagner 6-0, 6-0. Alison Fetter defeated Kelsey Waite 6-1, 6-2, and Nicole Nardi defeated Alexandra Heller 6-2, 6-3.
Things were really starting to look good for West Chester as they had a 4-2 overall lead. But things went south quick, as they lost the final three singles matches, and lost their quarterfinal matchup to Millersville, 5-4.
It all came down to number four singles which pitted Nicole Daacke of Millersville against Jami Dumler of West Chester. Dumler took the first set 6-3, but then dropped the next two sets 2-6, 3-6.
“I think overall, the women had a very good season and they played very hard. Yesterday (April 16) Millersville was just the better team,” coach Tina Tharp said.
As the women’s season ended on Tuesday, the men’s squad still had a semifinal matchup against Edinboro on Friday. However, due to rain throughout the entire day Friday, the match was pushed back until Saturday. As Saturday’s match got underway, Edinboro took two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead going into singles play. David Goldenburg then defeated Brandon Romain of Edinboro 6-2, 6-3 to even it up at two apiece. West Chester then took a 3-2 lead when Patrick McGinely defeated James Cooper of Edinboro 6-3, 6-0. Unfortunately for West Chester, they dropped the next three matchups and lost their Semi-Final matchup 5-3. Their best chance at a win was at number two singles where Chaz Irwin of West Chester took the first set 7-5 over Kody Duncan of Edinboro. However, Duncan took the next two sets 6-1, 6-2, ending the men’s season.
Although both squads’ seasons ended without winning a championship, both took big strides. The men clinched their first ever regular season PSAC conference title and first playoff appearance since 2003.
Ryan Calpin can be reached at RC784188@wcupa.edu.