Grove City earns 26th straight PAC men’s tennis title

Grove City earns 26th straight PAC men’s tennis title

Bookmark and Share

Final results

ERIE, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Grove City College posted wins in four individual flights and one doubles flight Saturday to secure the school's 26th-consecutive Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Tennis Championship.

The league hosted its annual two-day championships at the Pennbriar Athletic Club in Erie, Pennsylvania for the 15th-straight year.

Grove City claimed flight individual flight champions at third, fourth, fifth and sixth singles and also won the third doubles flight. The Wolverines finished the event with 54 points.

Saint Vincent College, led by freshman Jonathan Prichard (Harborcreek, Pa. / Cathedral Prep.), finished as the runner-up with 36 points. Prichard was named the PAC's Player of the Year after capturing the first singles flight. He also teamed with classmate Ryan Hartz (Perryopolis, Pa. / Frazier) to claim the number one doubles flight. The number two seed in the flight, Prichard earned a 7-5, 6-3 win over top-seeded Jon Graber (Atglen, Pa. / Octorara) of Grove City in the title match. Saint Vincent's number one doubles tandem posted an 8-3 win over Graber and Zach Sprunger (Ashland, Ohio / Ashland) in the title match.

Prichard is the first Saint Vincent men's player to earn Player of the Year honors since Dave Cenkner in 2013.

Bethany College finished third with 34 points, followed by Washington & Jefferson College in fourth (33), Westminster College in fifth (14), Waynesburg University in sixth (10), Geneva College in seventh (9), Thiel College in eighth (8) and Thomas More College in ninth (7).

Grove City fourth-year head coach Jeff Buxton was voted the league's Coach of the Year, while Bethany and first-year head coach Nick Hager were voted the PAC's Team Sportsmanship Award winners.

By claiming the conference championship, Grove City has earned the PAC's automatic qualifying bid to the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship. The first round of the Division III Championship is scheduled to begin on Friday, May 13.