Men’s Tennis defeats DePauw to capture NCAC title

Denison men's tennis secured the 2021 NCAC Championship, their first since 2006.

BOX SCORE

GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The 27th-ranked Denison men's tennis squad continued their remarkable season on Friday afternoon as they defeated DePauw University, 5-0, to capture the 2021 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship at the Denison Tennis Courts in Granville. This is the Big Red's 13th NCAC title in program history, and their first since 2006.

Opening play with a strong 3-0 performance on the doubles courts, the Big Red earned their first win of the afternoon in No. 2 doubles when seniors Vlad Rotnov and Patrick McGuigan defeated DePauw's Noah Roberts and Jake Watson, 8-3. Denison's No. 3 pairing of Jacob Dennen and Akshat Agarwal gave the Big Red a 2-0 lead following an 8-6 win over Gordian Bruns and Ryan McCook, while Tim Cianciola and Jack Bulger closed out doubles play in the top flight with an 8-5 victory over Bryce McClanahan and Thomas Partridge.
Needing only two wins to secure the conference title, the Big Red received quick work from No. 4 and No. 6 singles. On the No. 6 court, sophomore Daniel Garcia dropped the first point of the match to McCook, but then followed with 12-straight victories to earn a 6-1, 6-0 straight-set sweep. In No. 4 singles, freshman Andy Mackler opened with an early 6-0 win over Watson in the first set, and ended the match when he defeated the opposition, 6-0, 6-0, to secure the NCAC Championship for the Big Red. This is the second-straight match that Mackler has closed out a 5-0 decision for DU, last doing it on April 28, 2021 when the Big Red shut out No. 14 Kenyon, 5-0.
Leading the Big Red to a current record of 10-2, first-year head coach David Schilling captured his first NCAC title as a coach since 1995, when he was in his first season as the head men's tennis coach at Kenyon College.

With the win, the Big Red have officially punched their ticket to the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships starting the weekend of May 14-16. The championship field will be announced on Monday, May 10 at 12 p.m. on ncaa.com.

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