ANNVILLE, Pa. - Back to defend its 2009 Commonwealth Conference championship, the LVC men's tennis team will hope to re-capture some of the magic from its memorable title run last year as it starts the playoffs at top-seeded Elizabethtown on Wednesday.
The young Dutchmen (9-6, 3-3 CC) are the fourth seed in the playoffs and will face the Blue Jays (12-4, 6-0) in a rematch of last year's championship match that LVC won 5-4.
This year, however, E-town turned the tables, winning 8-1 during the regular season on April 10, but that scoreline may be deceiving as LVC was without No. 1
Ethan Grodzinski and No. 5
Brad Sweigart for the match. It will be a whole new game as they are back in the line-up and there will be no repeat matches from their regular-season meeting.
The Dutchmen will hope that their full line-up will be able to better test E-town, starting with the match-up at No. 1 between Grodzinski and Manrique Arrea. While they did not meet in the dual match, they are the only two who have faced each other this season as Arrea beat Grodzinski 6-3, 6-2 in the MAC Individual Tournament on Saturday.
At No. 2,
Tom Neckelmann will face Josh Riehl, and No. 3
Andrew Deckert will face Brok Walker.
Jon Gingrich, whose win clinched LVC the title last year, will face Bryan Metz at No. 4, and Sweigart will play Eric Fritzges at No. 5.
Joel Ramos will play Brian Osborn for the first time at No. 6.
In doubles, the team of Grodzinski and Gingrich are 8-3 this season and face Arrea and Walker at No. 1; Neckelmann and Sweigart, 1-0 in their only match this year, play Riehl and Fritzges at No. 2, and Deckert and Ramos (5-2) play Metz and Mike Anderson at No. 3.
Commonwealth Conference Semifinal
Lebanon Valley at Elizabethtown Projected Line-Ups
Singles
1.
Ethan Grodzinski (8-6) vs. Manrique Arrea (14-7)
2.
Tom Neckelmann (7-8) vs. Josh Riehl (13-8)
3.
Andrew Deckert (8-7) vs. Brok Walker (13-10)
4.
Jon Gingrich (10-5) vs. Bryan Metz (9-8)
5. Brad Sweigert (2-0) vs. Eric Fritzges (14-10)
6.
Joel Ramos (3-5) vs. Brian Osborn (9-4)
Doubles
1. Grodzinski/Gingrich (8-3) vs. Arrea/Walker (3-3)
2. Neckelmann/Sweigert (1-0) vs. Riehl/Fritzges (10-7)
3. Deckert/Ramos (5-2) vs. Metz/Mike Anderson (3-2)
