Jared Connolly

The Denison men's tennis team competed against Division I and III opponents at the Rocket Invitational hosted by the University of Toledo this past weekend.  Junior Jared Connolly (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) and sophomore Matt McErlean (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) posted 3-0 and 2-0 singles records, respectively, to pace the Big Red.

In Friday's doubles action, DU suffered a 2-1 setback against Division I foe Wright State University.  Connolly and sophomore Tim Martin (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) garnered the lone Denison point with an 8-2 win at second doubles against Wright State's Brian Dredge and Byron Wowchuk.  The Big Red fell 2-1 to Kenyon and Dayton, and suffered a 3-0 setback to the host Rockets in singles action on Friday.  Against the Lords, junior Nate Hobrath (Strongsville, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) defeated Tomas Piskacek in straight sets (6-4, 6-4).  Connolly earned the other singles victory with a 6-1, 6-4 win over the Flyers' Andrew Nixon.

Denison posted a 1-1 mark as a team in doubles action on Saturday as they dropped a 2-1 decision to Toledo and edged Dayton, 2-1.  Connolly and Martin finished the tournament at 2-0 after an 8-5 victory over the Rockets' Levi Bent-Lee and Leo Sarria.  The teams of Hobrath and sophomore Tyler Cempre (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), and sophomore Tom Cawood (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) and McErlean recorded wins in the victory over the Flyers.  Hobrath and Cempre won a 9-7 decision over Joe West and Robert Salcedo, while Cawood and McErlean knocked off Michael Rohana and Matt Sherman, 8-5.

In Saturday's singles play, the Big Red posted a 2-2 record by notching wins over Wright State and Toledo in "A singles", and dropping close matches to WSU and Kenyon in "B singles".  Cempre defeated Dredge in three sets 6-3, 4-6 (10-8), while McErlean won a three setter against Landon Neuman, 6-3, 3-6 (10-6) in the nod over the Raiders.  Junior Evan Verbofsky (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel Area) and McErlean lead DU to a win over Toledo.  Verbofsky def. Sarria, 8-6, and McErlean knocked off Bryant Dudzik, 8-4.  In pool "B" action, Connolly defeated Wowchuk of Wright State 2-6, 6-4 (10-1), and Kenyon's Kevin Ye, 8-3.  Additionally, Martin also garnered a straight-set shutout of the Lords' Angus Walker (6-0, 6-0) in "C singles" play.

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