April 26, 2014
Grove City wins 24th straight crown
ERIE, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's tennis team rolled to its 24th straight Presidents' Athletic Conference title Saturday by sweeping all nine championship flights at the Pennbriar Club. Grove City finished with a perfect team score of 54 points. It is the first time since 2011 that Grove City finished with a perfect score at the conference championships.
Junior Peter Riley (Woodbury, Pa./Northern Bedford) earned the conference's Player of the Year award after winning the league title at first singles. Riley blanked Saint Vincent's Sean Malone in the finals, 6-0, 6-0.
Riley's win capped a sweep of the six singles flights for the Wolverines. At second singles, junior Colby Beighey (Fombell, Pa./Riverside) captured a 6-1, 6-4 win in the finals over Waynesburg's Timothy Harris, the No. 7 seed in the draw.
Sophomore Jon Graber (Atglen, Pa./Octorara) won the third singles championship with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision over Waynesburg's Philip Littlejohn. At No. 4 singles, junior Chris Collins (West Chester, Pa./Delaware County Christian) picked up a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the finals over Washington & Jefferson's Micah Byrum.
Sophomore Thane Feldeisen (Ann Arbor, Mich./Green Hills) won the conference title at fifth singles with a 7-5, 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Tyler Brinton of Saint Vincent. Sophomore Dan Schafhauser (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) completed the sweep with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at sixth singles over W&J's Renato Popovic.
Beighey and Riley teamed for the league title at first doubles by downing Harris and Isaiah Cochran in the finals 8-3. Collins and Graber combined for the No. 2 doubles championship by claiming an 8-5 victory in the finals over Byrum and Chad Dille of W&J.
Schafhauser and sophomore Josh Sauer (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) won the third doubles title by downing W&J's Popovic and Chris Fadil, 8-3.
Riley opened the first singles draw by blanking Thiel's Zach Kubec in the quarterfinals. Riley then defeated Thomas More's Sergio Pascual in the semifinals, 6-1 and 6-0.
Beighey blanked Thiel's Thad Paunovich in the quarterfinals before outlasting W&J's Samuel Miller in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-4. Graber defeated Thiel's Danny Dawson in the third singles quarterfinals, 6-0, 6-1, and then bounced Westminster's Ryan Carr in the semifinals by a 6-1, 6-1 score.
Collins opened the fourth singles competition by topping Thiel's Jon Fennick, 6-1, 6-0. In the semifinals, Collins picked up a 6-4, 6-0 win over Kyle Booker of Bethany. Feldeisen, the second seed in fifth singles, knocked off seventh-seeded Mitchell Ross (Waynesburg) in the opening match, 6-1, 6-1. He then defeated Westminster's Ethan McCarthy in the semifinals, 6-1 and 6-0.
Schafhauser recorded shutouts in each of his first two matches. He blanked Thiel's Trevor Martin in the quarterfinals before earning a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Bethany's Dylan Schooley in the semifinals.
The Beighey-Riley combo topped Dawson and Kubec in the first doubles quarterfinals, 8-1. Beighey and Riley then secured an 8-0 semifinal win over the Saint Vincent tandem of Malone and Chris Andrejcik.
Graber and Collins earned an 8-1 win over Fennick and Paunovich in the second doubles quarterfinals. The Grove City duo advanced to the finals with an 8-3 semifinal win over Littlejohn and Colin Phillips.
Sauer and Schafhauser began the third doubles draw with an 8-1 victory over Waynesburg's Caleb Gaumer and James Manges. In the semifinals, the Sauer-Schafhauser team shut out Bethany's Schooley and Marcus Hooks.
By winning the conference title, Grove City receives an automatic berth in the 2014 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. The tournament field will be announced in May.
Riley also earned the conference's Player of the Year award as a freshman in 2012. Overall, Grove City has won 25 conference titles since joining the league in the 1984-85 academic year.
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