Defiance comes from behind for 5-4 win at Hanover

HANOVER, Ind. - Last year, the Defiance College men's tennis team was defeated by Hanover 0-9 in the final match of the regular season. With the Yellow Jackets riding a three-match win streak entering the match, last year has never seemed so distant, as Defiance stung the Panthers with a 5-4 road win on Saturday.

With senior Mike Ross out of the line-up the Yellow Jackets (9-6, 4-1 HCAC) started out doubles play with a tight 9-7 win at the number one spot with the pairing of junior Ryan Nelson (Oregon, Ohio / Clay) and freshman James Demeo (Oregon, Ohio / Clay).

Both the number two doubles pairing of senior Cord Speelman (Bryan, Ohio / Bryan) and junior Justin Walker (Oak Harbor, Ohio / Hunt) and number three team of junior Tyler Thiel (Bryan, Ohio / Bryan) and freshman Tory Savage (Bryan, Ohio / Bryan) battled through but were topped by the Panthers to take the match to 1-2.

In singles competition, Defiance's Speelman and Walker were bested at the one and four singles spots, respectively, with Speelman taking his second set to a tiebreaker. However, DC's remaining four singles players proved to be too tough of a challenge to Hanover and provided a big comeback victory for DC.

The Jackets picked up a strong win by Demeo at the number three singles spot with a score of 6-1, 6-0.

After being down 0-3 in the first set, Nelson stormed back with six straight games to win his first set and dropped only two games in the second set to win with a score of 6-3, 6-2 in his individual match

Thiel was next to claim an individual victory at the six singles position by a score of 6-3, 6-3, taking the match to a nerve-wracking 4-4 overall score.

In the last match to finish, Savage clinched the team win for the Yellow Jackets by stepping up at five singles position and bested his opponent 6-3, 6-4 as his teammates looked on.

Defiance will return home for a non-conference match-up versus Bethel College on Monday, April 14. at 4 p.m.