The postseason begins today for the Wabash tennis team when the Little Giants meet Oberlin College in the opening round of the North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Tournament.
 
The two teams play at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to face the victor between number-one seeded Kenyon and eighth seed Ohio Wesleyan. Wabash earned the fourth seed by virtue of a 2-2 record in the NCAC West Division as well as winning head-to-head matches versus Oberlin and Wooster.
 
The Little Giants defeated Oberlin 5-4 in its regular season victory. Wabash scored a win at number one doubles at 9-8 by the team of Daniel Delgado and William Reifeis. Delgado added a three-set win a number-one single, along with singles victories from Reifeis, Kirill Ivashchenko, and Graham McMullen.
 
Wabash wrapped up its regular season last week against three North Coast Athletic Conference opponents. The team faced DePauw University last Wednesday and followed up with matches against Denison University and Kenyon College last weekend. The team knew the intense challenge they were going to face and fell short in all three matches. Wabash tennis will not escape the powerhouse teams in the NCAC Conference Tournament this weekend. The Little Giants will have to come out victorious in the tournament to keep their season alive.
 
The team knew the intense challenge they were going to face in their final regular season matchups. Wednesday the team suffered a 6-3 defeat at the hands of DePauw University. Saturday consisted of a 7-2 loss to Denison University and a 9-0 defeat at the hands of Kenyon College. All three teams are at the top of the NCAC conference every year.
 
"I think that it was a really good indicator for us to see where we lie in the conference," Mark Troiano said. "There's no doubt that they were really good teams and we did not play our best."
 
"We had a tough finish to the regular season, but it showed the team that we can compete with anybody in the conference, we just have to be at the top of our games for every point," Head coach Jason Hutchison said.
 
"We are not discouraged by the matches, now we just know what we are facing and the type of opponents that are ahead of us," Troiano said. He added that the mentality the teams took into the matches played a role in the outcome.
 
"They knew that we were good, and so when we got out there they came to play. They were just firing on all cylinders and putting a lot of pressure on us."
 
The attitude of the Wabash opponents may have differed from its own going into the match
 
"We came in like we don't have much pressure, we can just go out there and play our game," Troiano said. "Unfortunately that did not work for us."
 
Troiano found that while he was playing he was able to establish a new mentality regarding his opponents.
 
"I was pretty nervous, but I realized that they are just another player on the other side of the court. Don't even pay attention to how good they are, their record, or national rankings, because it just messes you up."