Defiance Tennis closes regular season with 7-2 win over MSJ

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Defiance College Men's Tennis team closed out the 2014 regular season on Saturday with a 7-2 victory over MSJ, securing a top-half finish in the HCAC Standings and a HCAC Tournament berth set for next weekend.

James Demeo led the way for the Yellow Jackets, finishing the regular season 8-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Kyle Haas in singles play.

Demeo also teamed up with Ryan Nelson to secure a 9-7 victory in the first doubles match.

The Yellow Jackets went on to win two of the three doubles matches and five of the six singles matches on the day.

Nelson also went 2-0 on the day after defeating MSJ's Ian Rowe 6-0, 6-4 in the twos match up.

Justin Walker was the only other Yellow Jacket to win both matches on the day. Walker partnered with Cord Speelman in the second doubles match to defeat Tony Faillace and Haas 8-3. Walker then went on to win the fours match in singles play, defeating Drew Royalty 6-0, 6-1.

Speelman dropped the only singles match for Defiance on the day, falling to MSJ's No. 1 singles player William Knoll 6-4, 6-1.

Tory Savage and Tyler Thiel each rebounded from an 8-6 doubles loss in the first session with singles victories later in the afternoon. Savage played in the No. 5 match, defeating Faillace 6-0, 6-4.

Thiel went on to win the longest singles match of the day, needing a third set. He won the opening set 6-4, but had to come back from a 4-6 defeat in set two to win 10-8 and earn DC's seventh point on the day.

The win for Defiance and a Franklin loss to Transylvania guarantees Defiance a top half finish in the HCAC Standings, as well as a spot in the HCAC Tournament on May 3-4 in Indianapolis, Ind. Defiance will have to wait for the remainder of HCAC games to be played during the week to find out its opponent.