Ohio Northern's men and women's tennis team cruised to victories this past week. Here's the recap:
Men's tennis
The third-seeded Ohio Northern men's tennis team cruised to a 5-0 victory over sixth-seeded Marietta in the OAC Tournament Quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon inside the Westwood Tennis Center in Lima.
With the victory, the Polar Bears improve to 13-8 overall this season. Meanwhile, the Pioneers conclude their season with a 7-12 overall mark.
Ohio Northern will move on to the OAC Tournament Semifinals for the second consecutive season.
The Ohio Northern softball program wrapped up its 2019 regular season slate Tuesday with 6-3 and 11-3 losses to nonconference foe Case Western Reserve at Mather Park in Cleveland.
The Polar Bears fall to 21-17 overall on the season with the losses. Meanwhile, the Spartans improve to 25-13 overall.
Senior infielder Hailee Loughman (Brookville) led the ONU offense with a four-for-five performance at the plate. In addition, she added an RBI and a walk over the two-game stretch.
Ohio Northern held off a late Capital charge to post a 10-9 victory in the semifinals of the 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Tuesday night at Bernlohr Stadium.
The fourth-seeded Polar Bears (13-4 overall) will advance to the OAC Tournament finals for the first time in school history and will play the winner of Wednesday's other semifinal contest between second-seeded Baldwin Wallace and third-seeded John Carroll on Saturday.
The top-seeded Crusaders end their season with a 15-2 record.
By Cort Reynolds
Last week's first round Ohio Tennis Coaches Association tennis tournament match between Celina and Ada at Ohio Northern was postponed by rain and a rematch set for Tuesday was cancelled.
Host Ada beat Marysville 4-1 in tennis on a windy Friday evening.
The Bulldog netters improved to 11-4 with the victory, while Marysville fell to 5-10 with the defeat.
Bulldog senior Cade Mullins, junior Isaac Spar and sophomore Miranda Wills swept all three singles matches in straight sets.
The Ada tandem of Morgan Swick and Dexter Woods rallied for a three-set win at first doubles in a third-set tiebreaker (10-5).
Sophomore Vinh Thai (Galloway/St. Charles) has been tabbed the final Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the 2018-19 campaign, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Last week, Thai posted a 2-0 record at No. 1 singles and a 1-1 record at No. 1 doubles against the top two teams in the final OAC standings, John Carroll and Otterbein. With his two singles victories, the sophomore completed an undefeated 5-0 season in singles play against conference opposition.
Junior right-handed pitcher Nate Bye (Thorntown, Ind./Western Boone) has been dubbed the Ohio Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week in baseball for the April 22-28 voting period, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Last week, Bye helped guide the Polar Bears to a 4-1 overall record and a 3-1 OAC mark with two stellar pitching performances. The Thorntown, Indiana native posted a 2-0 record on the mound with a 0.56 ERA and four strikeouts in a team-high 16.0 innings.
