Wabash seniors Dan Petrie and Josh Paul took first place at number three doubles and Adrian Starnes and Sean Clerget were second at number two doubles at the 2007 Kerry Seward Memorial Tennis Tournament. Paul and sophomore Jay Horrey added second place finishes in their individual draws to help the Little Giants finish second out of eight teams at the two-day event.
The second place finish was the best for Wabash since the squad took second in 2000. The annual event is named in honor of the former Little Giant and Crawfordsville High School tennis and basketball star. Seward earned six Little State tennis honors while leading the Little Giants to the team title of the Little State tournament as a junior. He finished 20-5 in his senior season on his way to a 46-21 singles career record. He was also part of the Wabash basketball team that won the 1982 NCAA Division III national championship. Seward was killed in an automobile accident shortly after graduating from Wabash in 1983. (View shots from Sunday's action on the courts)
Paul and Petrie scored an 8-5 victory over Andrew Bartelmo and Trey Butera from Vincennes in the first round, then advanced to the championship match with an 8-6 win against Scott Grubbs and Michael Schoumacher from Rose-Hulman. The duo defeated Trevor Scott and John Pfingston from Transylvania in the finals to take the title.
Paul was a straight set 6-0, 6-1 winner in his first match at number three singles against Earlham's Aaron Weeden. Paul followed with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Dave Gapp from Augustana in the semifinals before losing 6-2, 6-2 to Binky Nikou from Vincennes in the finals.
Horrey won his first two matches at number one singles, defeating Rose-Hulman's Joe Rottman (6-2, 6-2) and Augustana's Rafael Romero (6-0, 6-1) to make the finals. Horrey battled through three sets before eventually losing to Renato Costa from Vincennes by scores of 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Starnes and Clerget worked their way to the title match in the second flight of doubles play with an opening round 8-4 victory over Brad Simcoe and Jake Tandy from Anderson. Starnes and Clerget scored an 8-3 win against Alex Dotson and Stedman Carmony from Marian in the semifinals before losing 8-4 to Costa and Charles Hodge in the finals.
Adam Van Zee was third at second singles. He started the tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Tim Cantwell from Anderson, but lost 6-1, 6-1 to eventual bracket champion Jaime Esteban from Vincennes. Van Zee had a 1-0 lead in the first set of his final match against Jesse Miller from Marian before an injury forced Miller to retire from the match.
Horry and Van Zee won their opening match at first doubles 8-2 against Jesse Miller and Jesse Martin from Marian. The duo dropped an 8-5 match against Esteban and Nikou in the semi's before rallying for an 8-1 win in the finals.
Nate Mullendore was fourth at number five singles. He lost his first round match before returning with wins in the final two matches. Clerget also lost his opening match at number six singles before scoring victories in the final two rounds to finish fourth.
Wabash finished with 53 point to finish second behind Vincennes (66 points). Augustana and Transylvania tied for third (46 points), while Marian (38), Rose-Hulman (35), Anderson (21) and Earlham (19) rounded out the scoring.
The Little Giants travel to Granville, Ohio next weekend to play Denison University at 9 a.m. in a North Coast Athletic Conference match. Wabash will also play Hope College at Denison's facility at 1 p.m. next Saturday.
Photo - Josh Paul serves during Sunday's action at the Kerry Seward Tournament.