On Sunday afternoon, the Alma Men's Tennis team began their Florida portion of their season and defeated Capital (Ohio) 5-4 to notch their first victory of the 2012 campaign.

The team came out confident but quickly fell behind in doubles play. Tight play left the Scots with holes to dig out of at #1 and #3 doubles, while the #2 doubles team was in a tight match all the way. The Scots were, in the end, able to salvage one of the doubles points with a victory at #3.

The pairing of So. Gordon Rumschlag (Romeo, Mich./Romeo) and Fr. Justin Meyer (Warren Woods, Mich./Warren Woods Tower) came back from being down 7-4 to win by a 9-7 score.  

With a 2-1 hole the Scots hoped to quickly refocus and regroup. Initially it looked like the hole was only going to continue to get deeper when a quick loss at #1 singles made it 3-1. The bottom of the line-up came through for the Scots though — wins at #5 and #6 pulled them even at 3-3.

At #5 singles Sr. Ben Schippers (Traverse City, Mich./Traverse City St. Francis) overpowered his opponent with strong serving and forehands en route to a 6-1, 6-2 win. Meyer provided the Scots steady play at #6 on his way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory.  

With the match tied at 3-3 the Scots were holding leads in the three remaining matches, needing two of them for a victory. So. Logan Beard (Ithaca, Mich./Ithaca) was next to come through with a victory for the Scots with a 6-2, 6-4 wins at #2.

With a 4-3 lead Alma then dropped the #4 match in a tight three-setter leaving the match in the hands of Fr. Trent Pontious (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia). Pontious was able to cap off the Scots first victory of the season with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

The Scots return to action on Monday with an 11:30am match against Hanover College (IN) at Lake Cane Tennis Center in Kissimmee, FL.

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