Yellow Jackets Fall Short Against Franklin

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Defiance College men's tennis team hosted Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent Franklin (Ind.) College and fell to the Grizzlies, 6-3.

In the doubles matches, the Yellow Jackets fell behind, 2-1, with the win for DC coming at third doubles. Junior Eline Widman (Tiffin/Tiffin Columbian) and senior Brian Kurtz (Sandusky/Perkins) teammed up to beat their opponent by a final of 8-3.

In the remaining doubles matchups, senior James DeMeo (Oregon) and junior Adam Swisher (Bedford, Mich./Bedford) combined efforts at first doubles and played in a back-and-forth series of rallies, but fell short losing by the final of 8-6. The senior duo of Tory Savage (Bryan) and Daniel Fabelo (Hamilton/Badin) also played a competitive match at second doubles, but would lose by the final of 8-5.

Defiance won two matches in singles action that included DeMeo at first singles in straight sets. DeMeo took the first set, 6-3, and would need extra points in the second set, but came out as the winner by the final of 7-5. 

Swisher captured the other singles victory despite dropping the first set, 6-4. Swisher then rallied in the second set and won convincingly, 6-1, to even the match at 1-1. The third set would end with Swisher's opponent retiring, sealing the victory for the Jackets. 

Savage scored a bombined three points in his third singles match, falling short 6-1 and 6-2. Widman battled in his fourth singles match forcing a tiebreaker in the second set, but falling overall, 6-2 and 7-6 (7-4).

Senior Nathan Height (Wabash, Ind./Wabash) took three overall games in his matchup at sixth singles losing the match by the scores of 6-2 and 6-1. Kurtz also forced his opponent to go the distance by capturing the first set, 6-2. Franklin then evened the match at a set apiece with a 7-5 victory in set two. The match was decided in third set tiebreaker where the Grizzlies pulled out the win with a 10-2 pro-set victory.

Defiance will return to play on Wednesday (April 12) when they host HCAC opponent Manchester (Ind.) University.  The match is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.