GOSHEN, Ind. — Well after the sun had settled behind the buildings on the western horizon Thursday afternoon, Eric Zuercher won his marathon match at no. 6 singles in a third set and the Goshen College men's tennis team finished its comeback, defeating Indiana Wesleyan 5-4 in a Crossroads League semifinal.
Indiana Wesleyan (8-3, 6-2 CL) took an early 2-1 lead at the conclusion of the doubles segment as Tyler Abbott and Joel Montgomery won 8-6 at the no. 2 position. At 4:22 p.m., the singles matches began, with the first school to reach five team points winning the match and advancing to Saturday's championship.
Per tournament policy. when the match was decided, play in the remaining contests would cease. The call to abandon play never came.
The Wildcats pulled ahead quickly in four of the six singles matches, needing only three to win the team match. Just more than an hour into team play, Gavin White won 6-1, 6-2 at no. 2 singles; minutes later, Tyler Abbott's victory at no. 5 made the team score 4-1. With the first set finishing at no. 6, IWU needed one more point to advance and had a set in hand at three of the four matches.
The one Maple Leaf to win his first set was Aritha Weerasinghe, who took the second stanza as well to pull his team within 4-2.
As if on cue, the momentum shifted. Jon Kaasa won a pair of sets 6-4 and 6-4 to win his match at no. 3. Balazs Pirot broke serve in the seventh game of his third set, snapping a 3-3 deadlock to pull ahead 4-3 and take the deciding set 6-4. And just before Pirot's match concluded, Zuercher sealed his second set 6-4 to square the match.
It was 6:45 p.m. The match was nearly four hours old. Singles play had lasted more than two hours and 20 minutes. And a full set at the lowest position would decide who advanced.
Playing against Austin Christner, Zuercher served first. Both men held in their opening service game. Zuercher held a second time before breaking after the second deuce to take a 3-1 lead.
As Zuercher held serve again to move to 4-1, his match crossed the three-hour mark. Thirteen minutes later, Christner hit a return long and Goshen (12-1, 7-1 CL) finished its comeback. The time was 7:35 p.m.: the singles match lasted three hours and 13 minutes, with the entire team match running 4:35.
With the victory, Goshen set a school record with its 12th victory of the season and matched its result from the regular season with a 5-4 victory over Indiana Wesleyan. For the 42nd time in as many matches this season, the team that finished with the better Crossroads League record won the match.
The Maple Leafs advance to the Crossroads League championship match for the first time since the league adopted its dual-match tournament format in 2011. Goshen will travel to Marian University on Saturday for the final: Marian was the league champion and beat Goshen 7-2 in the regular season, winning a match that began Sept. 8 and finished Sept. 13 because of rain. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at the MU Tennis Courts in Indianapolis.
Goshen will be seeking its sixth conference tennis title since joining the league in 1970 and its first since 1995.
More, including comments from King, to come when available.
Full Results: Goshen 5, Indiana Wesleyan 4
Doubles:
1. Dubuque/Matthews (IW) def. Kaasa/Palanisamy 8-2
2. Abbott/Montgomery (IW) def. Pirot/Zuercher 8-6
3. Perez/Weerasinghe (G) def. White/Christner 8-5
Singles:
1. Balazs Pirot (G) def. Brandon Dubuque 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. Gavin White (IW) def. Luis Perez 6-1, 6-2
3. Jon Kaasa (G) def. Joel Montgomery 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Aritha Weerasinghe (G) def. Leonard Matthews 7-5, 6-3
5. Tyler Abbott (IW) def. Vasanth Palanisamy 6-2, 6-1
6. Eric Zuercher (G) def. Austin Christner 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
