April 25, 2003

Wolverines tied for 1st at halfway point of PACs

ERIE, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's tennis team is tied for first place with Washington and Jefferson College at 32 points after the first day of the two-day Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships, held at the Pennbriar Fitness and Racquet Club in Erie.

Five Wolverine players advanced to the finals in singles action. At first singles, top-seeded junior Patrick Donahue (Lafayette, Ind./Lafayette Jefferson) defeated Thiel's Brian Gowday 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. Donahue will play Washington and Jefferson's Matt Dubow.

Freshman Brent Moon (Lima, Ohio/Shawnee) advanced to the second singles finals with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Washington and Jefferson's Matt Yokitis. Moon, the top seed, meets Westminster's Matt Gross in Saturday's finals.

Sophomore third singles entry Phil Springirth (Erie, Pa./Harborcreek) rolled past Waynesburg's Guillermo Pradera by a 6-1, 6-2 count Friday, earning a berth in the finals. The top-seeded Springirth faces Washington and Jefferson's Jordan Genis Saturday.

Second-seeded senior Geoff Gehring (Madison, Ohio/Madison) will play Washington and Jefferson's Gary Tan in the fourth singles finals Saturday. Gehring blanked Waynesburg's Mark Gates 6-0 and 6-0 in the semifinals.

Freshman Matthew Chung (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) downed Waynesburg's Nate Smucker 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the fifth singles finals. Chung, the No. 1 seed, meets Wash. and Jeff.'s Ehren Frey for the title.

Sophomore Andrew Geisler (Bradford, Pa./Bradford) will compete for third place at sixth singles after falling to Westminster's Shane McCullough 6-4, 6-2.

In doubles action, Gehring and Sam Fortna (Annville, Pa./Annville-Cleona) clinched a berth in the third doubles finals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Smucker and Ryan Floyd of Waynesburg. Springirth and Chung will play in the second doubles consolation match Saturday while the first doubles team of Moon and Donahue will try to reach the finals Saturday.

Westminster is third with 24 points while Waynesburg (16), Bethany (2) and Thiel (2) round out the six-team field.

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