Men's Tennis Beats Manchester

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The Defiance College men's tennis team defeated Manchester (Ind.) University, 7-2, in a fall season match and non-conference matchup at the Dix Tennis Courts.

Defiance (1-0) led, 2-1, after the doubles matches with victories by the duos of senior James Demeo (Oregon/Clay) and freshman Cody Wurzelbacher (Toledo/Springfield) at first doubles, along with seniors Tory Savage (Bryan) and Dan Fabelo (Hamilton/Badin) at the third doubles spot.  Demeo and Wurzelbacher defeated their opponents by the score of 8-2 and Savage and Fabelo went on to win their individual match by the final of 8-1.  

The team of juniors Adam Swisher (Bedford, Mich./Bedford) and Eline Widman (Tiffin/Tiffin Columbian) played a close match at second doubles, but fell just short by the final of 8-6. 

In singles play, the Yellow Jackets captured five of the single matchups with wins at the first, second, third, fifth and sixth singles positions.  Wurzelbacher kept the momentum of his doubles victory in defeating his opponent in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-4.  Demeo posted scores of 6-2 and 6-1 to win his second singles match and Swisher posted the win with the final scores of 6-4 and 6-2 at third singles.

Widman won his fifth singles matchup in straight sets by identical scores of 6-2.  Fabelo rounded out the victories at sixth singles despite dropping the first set, 6-4, and then rallying to win the final two sets, 7-6 and 1-0 (10-7), to claim the win.  

Savage played a closely contested fourth singles match, winning the first set, 6-4.  His opponent then won the second set, 6-3, to even the match at 1-1.  The match was decided by a pro-set in which the Spartans came out the winner, 10-7, to claim its only win in singles.

Defiance will next prepare for its main season in the spring with official practices set to begin in January.