GREENWOOD, Ind. – By virtue of a regular-season split, Cedarville and Davis & Elkins each earned a share of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference men’s tennis title over the weekend to close the 2016 season.
Following respective 5-4 finals in both Elkins, W.Va., and at Cedarville, the chase was exciting and went down to the wire with a third-set tiebreaker on Saturday.
Cedarville and Davis & Elkins tangled with each other two times in the past three days. The Yellow Jackets prevailed in Elkins on Thursday while the Senators were able to return the favor on Saturday morning.
D&E needed to tie to salvage the regular-season split or Cedarville would have won its first trophy in the sport outright.
Coaches Alan Edlund (Cedarville) and Otis Cutshaw (Davis & Elkins) posed for a picture beforehand and the mutual respect went as far as joking they would play each other head-to-head to determine a tiebreaker if necessary.
Each coach roamed the courts with words of encouragement to their players trying to gain every competitive edge in a still-developing rivalry.
The Senators have been able to take the men’s tennis trophy back to Elkins in 2014, 2015 and 2016 -- resulting in a ‘three-peat’ for a roster laden with international talent.
The Yellow Jackets finished 83-55 in singles (.601) as a team as Jon Class, Luke Ingles, David Carter, Ryan Shomo and Matt Brumbaugh, all had 13 wins or more.
Saturday’s decisive dual went down to the wire as D&E’s Jack Clifton outlasted Cedarville’s Joel Clark in a gripping third-set tiebreaker.
The Yellow Jackets were able to win two of the three doubles for the early lead before D&E won four singles bouts.
The Senators won the top three singles matchups and No. 6 with Samuel Vallieres bouncing back in three sets from a first-set setback against Cedarville’s David Carter.
D&E senior Vincent Hamon finished out his career with impressive wins in No. 1 singles and doubles. Hamon has carved out a G-MAC record 38 wins since 2013 in singles competition, including 15 in 2013 and 14 more this season.
Cedarville will potentially compete at the NCCAA Championships while Davis & Elkins finished with a 10-10 overall record.
The Yellow Jackets closed out the season to date at 14-9 overall. Both teams were 3-1 in the G-MAC with mutual wins against Salem International.