Lebanon Valley Gets Retribution, Ends Messiah Run Of Dominance
Posted: 4/25/2009
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Senior Sam Shorts did his part, but Messiah failed to make it four conference crowns in a row in losing to LVC Saturday.

Landisville, PA — The Messiah men’s tennis program’s run of league dominance officially came to a close Saturday afternoon, as third-seeded Lebanon Valley College upset the second-seeded Falcons by a 5-2 score in the MAC Commonwealth Conference Semi-Finals at the Hempfield Sports Complex.

Messiah (9-8) concludes its traditional season in the defeat, with the MAC Individual Championships set to take place next weekend.

Coming into the weekend’s action, Messiah had won the three previous Commonwealth Championships. Head coach Sheila Bush said she understood it would take a great effort just to get to Sunday’s championship match, after narrowly defeating Lebanon Valley (10-7) by a 5-4 score back on Apr. 16.

While Saturday’s effort was solid, it was not good enough.

Messiah dropped two of the three doubles flights to fall behind by an early 2-1 score Saturday afternoon — a score that was reversed from the teams’ previous meeting during regular-season play.

In that match — hosted by Messiah — the Falcons secured wins at both the number one and number two doubles slots.

Saturday, however, Messiah’s number two doubles team of junior Luke Ruch and freshman Mike Elliott could not repeat the feat.

Lebanon Valley’s Matt Grodzinski and Andrew Levin avenged an 8-6 loss to Ruch and Elliott, storming out to an early lead Saturday afternoon and coasting to an 8-4 win.

That match was ultimately the difference, as the remaining decisions matched the Apr. 16 meeting almost exactly. Senior Sam Shorts and sophomore Jansen Hein captured an 8-3 win at number one doubles (the tandem claimed an 8-2 win in the first match-up), while LVC took wins in each of the bottom three singles matches — a feat the Dutchmen recorded on Apr. 16 as well.

In that meeting it was Ruch’s 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 win over LVC’s Tom Neckelmann at number three singles that sealed the team decision. On Saturday, Ruch didn’t get the opportunity: By the time freshman Adam Sheir had dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision to LVC’s Andrew Levin, the match was over. Ruch and Hein (number one singles) did not get to finish their matches. Shorts provided Messiah’s other point at the number two singles position, winning a 6-1, 6-2 decision over the Dutchmen’s Jared Zeigler.

Messiah will conclude play completely when the team takes part in the annual MAC Individual Championships — an event both pairing Commonwealth and Freedom institutions in both singles and doubles matches. The event is slated to take place next Saturday, on the campus of Wilkes University.