Men's Tennis Bests Otterbein in Thriller OAC Title, Secure 6th Straight Trophy

5/8/2021 4:00:00 PM | By: By: Kyle Kelly, Senior Staff Writer

The 2021 OAC Tournament Champions

Box Score MASON, Ohio -- Shaun Keenan's squad did it again. For the sixth time in a row, to be precise.

In a year full of uncertainty, the John Carroll University Men's Tennis team left no doubt who the best team in the Ohio Athletic Conference was once again. In this year's edition, the Blue Streaks beat Otterbein University, 5-4, at Lindner Tennis Center on May 8.

"It was definitely the best match, let alone OAC championship I've been a part of in four years at JCU," senior Andrew Triner said afterward. "With COVID and everything that happened last year, this championship is definitely the sweetest."

Except this year's victory was not just sweet, it was perhaps the most dramatic of Triner's four years too.

After not losing a doubles match all year, JCU lost two doubles matches this afternoon. However, in the singles, JCU stormed back to clip the Cardinals 4-3 to capture the 11th OAC Championship in program history. Following the win, the Blue Streaks remain undefeated in conference play since May 1, 2014, and have claimed the conference crown every year since 2015.

That would not be the case if it was not for Grant Sarnowski

Through eight matches, the teams tied the contest four. As a result, the weight of winning the trophy fell onto the shoulders of Sarnowski. However, Sarnowski was not just battling his opponent, Jake McDivitt, he was battling muscle cramps too.

In the third set of his match, Sarnowski was down 5-2 but came from behind to win two games to cut the deficit to one (5-4). At the time Ottebein had the match point but Grant fought through the pain with three consecutive points to win the set 7-5.

"It was unreal," Sarnowski said. "I just kept taking deep breaths and stayed in the moment. I've always thrived under pressure. I was happy to be in the situation"

The pressure of having the team's destiny in his hands wasn't too much to handle for the first-year standout.

"It was the best moment of my life," he said. "As a freshman, I was so happy to pull it out for the team. I always try to bring the intensity and it came through for me today."

The senior tandem of Doug Moore and Andrew Triner took the only double for Blue Streaks with an 8-4 victory. Fellow senior Adi Jha quickly tied the contest back up with a quick win (6-1, 6-3) in the singles.

Then, Andy Sciliano fell to Brandon Wall (6-2, 6-3) that put the Cardinals back in the 3-2 lead. Otterbein didn't hold the lead for long as JCU's Logan Langovsky won his singles match (7-5, 6-3) Connor Radune to even the score at three.

Triner lost his individual match in three sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-3) to Tom Ohler and left the Blue Streaks trailing again. Luckily, JCU received a big-time victory from Mark Beebe, who went three sets himself with Jamie Price (6-1, 4-6, 6-3).

That set the stage for Sarnowski, who won his first OAC Tournament match 2 sets to 1, to close out this year's act.

John Carroll will go on to compete in the NCAA Tournament and will learn their opponent on May 10, during the 2021 selection show.

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