Results | Championship bracket
GAMBIER, Ohio – Two nationally-ranked teams took to the courts at the Jasper Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon seeking the right to advance in the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Tournament. In a marathon match lasting nearly six hours, the Kenyon College Lords and Case Western Reserve University Spartans brought a packed house to their feet and all eyes on one court housing the deciding match. Kenyon's Jacob Huber broke a 4-4 tie with a 7-5, 6-4 victory in the final match of the day to propel the Lords into the quarterfinal round of the national tournament.
Kenyon (25-3) and No. 14 Case Western Reserve met earlier this year where the Lords pulled away a 6-3 win in regular season play. Just like in their April matchup, Huber collected the final win of the match but none with more impact on the future status of the Lords than Sunday's. Pitted against John Healey, Huber rallied late in the first set to steal a 7-5 decision. In the second-set, both players traded points but Huber broke away with the final two points of the match. Facing match point and the chance to clinch the contest for the Lords, Huber induced Healey into an error with a volley long of the baseline, prompting the celebration for his and the team's victory. The final score of the match-clinching win was 7-5, 6-4. It was Huber's 11th straight win in singles play while improving his overall record to 16-2 on the season.
The match appeared to turn in Kenyon's favor after they stole the top-flight doubles match featuring Paul Burgin and Tim Rosensteel. The pair dueled with the Spartans' Healey and Nicholas Howe in back-and-forth fashion but ultimately the match went the Lords' way. Case Western went up 7-6 and had momentum riding on their side of the court before Burgin and Rosensteel battled to take wins away in each of the next three games, giving the Lords and 2-1 lead.
The Spartans were far from done after quickly tying the match at two each when Eric Klawitter defeated C.J. Williams 6-4, 6-1. The Spartans won their second singles flight in succession when in the No. 1 matchup Case Western's Christopher Krimbill overcame a first-set loss to Burgin and won the next two to give his team a one-point lead, 3-2.
Michael Razumovsky and Wade Heerboth put the pressure on with back-to-back singles wins that began a roar of support for the Lords. Heerboth quickly shot out to a one-set lead over Kyle Gerber but dropped the second set, 7-5. Just as the Lords outlasted the Spartans toward the end of the match, so did Heerboth as he steadily worked his way to a 6-4, third-set win to tie the match once again.
Minutes later, Razumovsky followed up with his own comeback win that went three sets. He fell behind by losing the first set to Will Drougas but avenged his earlier performance with consecutive 6-3 wins in the second and third sets. The sophomore's win put the Lords in position to put away the match with two more players to hit the court. Derek Reinbold defeated Tim Rosensteel in three sets, relying on a grueling win that took a 9-7 tiebreaker to decide the first set, setting the table for Huber's heroics.
Kenyon, ranked second nationally, advances to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals that are set to begin on May 20 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Lords will continue their trek through the tournament against No. 10 Washington University (Mo.), who enters the match with a 19-5 overall record and has defeated Grinnell College (5-3), Kalamazoo College (5-0), and Coe College (5-1). They are ranked third in the Central Region behind Kenyon.
