The 35th-ranked Denison men's tennis team closed out the regular season with a 7-2 Senior Day victory over Wabash on Saturday in Granville, Ohio. With the win, the Big Red improves to 3-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference West Division just days before the final seeding for the 2015 NCAC Tournament is made.
The Big Red took a commanding 3-0 lead in the match after pulling off a clean sweep in doubles. The senior tandem of Jeffrey LoDuca and Casey Cempre got things going with a dominant 8-0 win at the second flight. Sophomore Owen Smith and freshman Jack O'Koniewski quickly followed with an 8-1 decision at No. 3.
Denison finished off doubles play with an 8-4 victory at first doubles. Senior Grant Veltman and junior Jackson O'Gorman-Bean, who entered the match ranked 10th in the central region, improved to a perfect 3-0 against regionally-ranked foes with a win over the central region's No. 3 tandem in Daniel Delgado and William Reifeis. The DU duo is now 7-4 on the year as a team, with all of those matches taking place at the top flight.
The Big Red secured the Senior Day win by winning four of the six singles flights. Veltman became a two-time winner on the day with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Delgado. The Denison senior earned his ninth singles win and his fourth against a regionally-ranked opponent on Saturday.
DU's other three wins came at fourth, fifth and sixth singles. O'Koniewski took home the victory at No. 4 singles as he defeated Reifeis with scores of 6-0 and 6-3. Smith followed suit at fifth with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Graham McMullen. Jamie McDonald cruised to his second win at No. 6 singles following a 6-1, 6-0 decision over Nicholas Pollock.
Denison (10-9) returns to action next weekend at the 2015 NCAC Tennis Championship hosted by Kenyon College. The three-day event will take place in Gambier, Ohio and will begin on Friday and run through Sunday.