ERIE, Pa. – The Geneva College men's tennis team traveled to Erie to take part in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships on Friday and Saturday, and senior Ethan Stahl made it to the finals of the #5 singles flight before eventually falling in the championship match. Stahl's performance was the farthest a Golden Tornado has advanced at the PAC Championships in the young program's history. Then after the championships were complete, Head Coach Mandee Craft was named as the PAC Coach of the Year for her work over the past three years in building the program from scratch. Overall, Thomas More won the PAC title, while Geneva finished sixth.
The championships started off well for Geneva when the No. 8 seed #1 doubles team of freshmen Alex Beck and Nate Heidengren knocked of the No. 1 seed team of Nate Wang and Luke Clahane from W&J, 8-2. It was the first time in PAC history that the No. 8 seed had defeated the No. 1 seed. Incidentally, Beck and Heidengren had defeated the team from W&J earlier in the regular season. Beck and Heidengren would lose in the semifinals to a team of Derrick Kwok and Jared Haught from Thomas More, 8-5.
Geneva's #2 doubles team of Stahl and junior Eric Abbott also won their first round match against W&J's team of Max Perilstein and Josh St. Clair, 8-5, before falling in the semifinals against Sheldon Preisler and Jeffrey Schenk from Thomas More, 8-5.
In singles action, Stahl was the only Golden Tornado to make it out of the first round, beating Riley Maruca from Saint Vincent 6-4, 6-2. In the semifinals, he knocked of Stephen Mehlbaun from W&J in three sets 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. Stahl ended up losing 6-2, 6-1 to Jared Haught of Thomas More in the championship match.
"The PAC Championships are always full of highs and lows, and that was true again this weekend," Head Coach Mandee Craft said. "It was awesome to have Alex and Nate become the first ever No. 8 seed to take out the top seed. Also, it was good to see Eric and Ethan avenge their in-season loss to W&J. And for Ethan to make our program's first run to the finals, it was a great way to close out a great career. We have a young team, so we're ready to get started working towards next season."
As far as being named Coach of the Year, Craft commented about the award, "It was very unexpected. This was a huge surprise, and definitely an honor. I'm very humbled right now."
Geneva will say goodbye to seniors Stahl, Caleb Hoal, Jesse Hooke, and David Streit, but the Golden Tornadoes will return their top four singles players, including the top three who are all freshmen.
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.
