Lords pull off upset at NCAA Tennis Championship

GAMBIER, Ohio (May 7, 2005) In the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship tournament Saturday, the Kenyon College Lords put together one of the best performances in the program's history. Led by a remarkable rally from senior Joshua Mabra, the Lords erased a two-point deficit and knocked off the No. 8 DePauw University Tigers, 4-3.

Kenyon, ranked No. 23 in the nation, came back from a 3-1 deficit and was all square with DePauw at 3-3. The only match left on the courts was the No. 5 singles battle between Mabra and DePauw's Jeff Zanchelli. As the match unfolded it clearly looked as if the Lords would be packing their bags and heading home. Zanchelli took a 6-4 first-set win and led 5-0 in the second set, leaving him just one game away from eliminating Mabra and the Lords.

Mabra then collected himself and battled back with arguably the greatest, come-from-behind win in the Lords' history. He caught Zanchelli at 6-6 in the second set and then won the tie-breaker 10-8, forcing a third and final set. Mabra once again fell behind in that last set, as Zanchelli built up a 4-3 lead. The Kenyon senior, however, had one more surge left and he forged ahead to finalize a stunning 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory.

Mabra's win catapulted the Lords into the Central Region semifinal round of the tournament, where they will face the Kalamazoo College Hornets, victors in a 5-0 decision over Washington University, Sunday at noon.

Although Mabra's win was the most celebrated, many Kenyon players stepped up their games to push the Lords past the heavily-favored Tigers. The KC men began the day with Borko Tesic and Mike Herrick defeating Evan Webeler and Billy Elliott, 8-3, at No. 1 doubles. Joe Freeman and Sean Stewart then sealed the team doubles point for Kenyon by taking an 8-4 match over Donald Person and Marshall Kuresman.

The Tigers quickly reversed momentum with three straight singles wins at No. 6, No. 3 and No. 2, but Freeman got the Lords back on track with a 6-0, 7-5 victory at No. 4 singles. Tesic then dropped Webeler, 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 1 singles match to tie the team score at 3-3 and set the stage for Mabra.

What made the Kenyon triumph even more spectacular was the fact the Lords (16-5) were playing on DePauw's (19-6) home courts, the same location they dropped a 5-2 match to the Tigers earlier in the season.