CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The 49th-ranked Wabash Little Giants delivered a dominant performance in doubles and carried that momentum deep into singles play Saturday afternoon, defeating the College of Wooster 6-1 in North Coast Athletic Conference men's tennis at Collett Tennis Center.
Wabash improved to 14-10 overall and 4-4 in conference play with the victory, while Wooster fell to 10-6 and 3-5 in the NCAC.
The Little Giants seized control early, sweeping all three doubles matches to claim the doubles point before the teams moved to singles competition. Wabash then won five of the six singles matches — including a dramatic comeback by Edmon Neto in the final match of the day — to cruise to the lopsided victory.
The No. 1 doubles team of Augusto Ghidini and Rafael Rin set the tone for the afternoon, dismantling Wooster's Enzo Lopes and Anthony VanOyen 6-0 in the first match to finish. The duo's shutout gave the Little Giants an early spark of energy that resonated across the facility.
Vittorio Bona and Cole Shifferly were next off the court at No. 3 doubles, dispatching Andrew Wissman and Walker Wood 6-1 in a match that was nearly as one-sided.
The No. 2 doubles pairing of Murilo Guarniari and Edmon Neto completed the sweep with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Bennett Dickerson and Ian Royse.
The momentum from doubles carried into singles play without interruption.
Rafael Rin continued his strong day by finishing first among singles players, defeating Enzo Lopes 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to push the Wabash lead to 2-0.
At No. 2 singles, Cole Shifferly found himself in early trouble after dropping the first set to Wooster's Ian Royse 1-6. But Shifferly regrouped and turned the match around in impressive fashion, storming back to win the second set 6-3 and the third set 6-1 for a comeback three-set victory that extended Wabash's advantage to 3-0.
Wooster finally got on the board at No. 1 singles, where Anthony VanOyen mounted a rally of his own against Murilo Guarniari. After dropping the opening set 3-6, VanOyen fought back to take the second set 6-4 and the third set 6-3, giving the Fighting Scots their only point of the afternoon and cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Any remaining suspense about the outcome was quickly eliminated when Tharakesh Ashokar clinched the match for Wabash at No. 4 singles, defeating Bennett Dickerson 6-4, 6-1. The victory gave the Little Giants an insurmountable 4-1 lead with two matches still in progress.
Vittorio Bona padded the margin at No. 6 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Walker Wood.
The most dramatic finish of the afternoon came in the final match of the day at No. 5 singles, where Wabash's Edmon Neto rallied to defeat Andrew Wissman and put the final stamp on the Little Giants' victory. After dropping the first set 3-6, Neto responded emphatically by taking the second set 6-1 to force a decisive third. With the set knotted, the match went to a 10-point tiebreaker, where Neto gutted out a 12-10 win to claim the final team point and seal the 6-1 team result.
Wabash will close out its regular season Sunday when it hosts John Carroll University at 10 a.m. at Collett Tennis Center.
