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Falcons' Season Ends In NCAA Regional Loss To Washington & Lee
Sophomore Luke Ruch competed in one of four singles positions that went unfinished in Saturday's NCAA Regional.

Fredericksburg, VA — The brilliancy that was the 2008 Messiah College men’s tennis season came to an abrupt conclusion Friday morning, as the Falcons dropped a 5-0 result to Washington & Lee University in the first round of NCAA Regional action at the University of Mary Washington.

Messiah (8-9-1) dropped all three doubles matches en route to falling at both the number two and three singles positions, concluding the match — via NCAA post-season rule — before the remaining flights had completed play.

“It’s difficult to put into words how our season ended,” said Frank Petre, Messiah head coach. “The level of play was so much better than we had faced all year, but that’s why it’s the NCAA Tournament. The depth of Washington & Lee was tremendous, and unlike our league or even our conference, their number one and six players were very similar in ability. There was very little, if any, fall off between all eight of their players. We were simply beaten today.”

The Falcons’ doubles teams took the brunt of the beating, winning just three total games between the three flights. Senior William Tanis and junior Sam Shorts dropped an 8-1 decision in the number two position, while sophomore Luke Ruch and freshman Jansen Hein fell by an 8-2 count at the third slot.

It was just the third loss of the season for both tandems at their respective positions, putting Messiah in a 3-0 hole before singles play even began.

“We played relatively well in singles, and as the match progressed our guys began to feel more confident,” Petre said. “We played some competitive matches into some second sets. Unfortunately, our deficit was just too much to overcome.”

Senior Jonathan Siemen dropped a 6-2, 6-1 loss at number two singles while Shorts fell by the same score at the third singles flight, ending the match before any other singles play was completed. At the top singles position, senior Nate Ipsen had captured a lead over Washington & Lee’s Tim Ross in the second set, trailing by a 3-6, 2-1 score, while both Tanis (five) and Ruch (six) had battled back to pull within 6-0, 5-2 scores when the match concluded. Hein also led the Generals’ Brent Meyers by a 1-0 score in the second set of a highly-competitive 7-5, 0-1 match at the fourth singles slot.

Messiah now graduates Ipsen, Siemen and Tanis, a class that has helped the program win the last three MAC Commonwealth Championships while taking five of nine individual titles at this year’s MASCAC Individual Championships. Messiah outscored its league opponents by a 38-3 point total this season, rattling off its third straight undefeated regular-season in Commonwealth play.

“We are losing perhaps three of the most productive and successful players in Messiah tennis history,” Petre said. “It’s hard to imagine another group like this coming along in the near future, but we can always hope. The 2009 season is a long way off. I hope the level of energy and work ethic carries over from this year, though. We’ll have three legitimate league and conference number ones by position returning, and with a good recruiting class we think we can compete for a fourth league title next year.”