In what sport have the Tigers arguably dominated the Little Giants of Wabash College the most in?
Thats right, tennis.
For the past 14 years the schools have criss-crossed the roughly 30 miles of US Highway 231 that separate them for a yearly meeting and each time, the Tigers have come out victorious.
Wednesday night’s meeting turned into more of the same for the Tigers, as they defeated the Little Giants 6-3 on the road in Crawfordsville, however, this time it wasn’t as easy as in years past.
“This is the best Wabash team we've played during my four years here,” senior Eric Vannatta said. “They've had a lot of success this year so it makes winning the match feel that much better.”
In previous seasons, it was routine to see the Tigers taking care of the Little Giants by final scores of 9-0 and 7-0, however, the program over in Crawfordsville has began to make a turnaround. A fact that leaves current Tiger even more pleased with Wednesday’s victory.
“Well I can't really speak for the teams I haven't been on, but they are our rival and this years Wabash team was the most successful in terms of wins ever, so it feels good to beat a good team,” sophomore Patrick Farrell said.
The pairs of senior Chris Bertolini and sophomore Dan Rodefeld along with sophomores Harold Martin and Farrell got DePauw University out to a 2-1 lead. Both groups collected early wins for the Tigers in the doubles portion of the match.
Wabash’s lone victory came from Daniel Delgado and William Reifeis who knocked off Vannatta and junior Alec Kaczkowski by a final score of 8-6.
“I definitely could have played better,” Vannatta said. “We played a good team who took us out of our rhythm. Whenever you lose a match there are always certain points and certain shots that you want back.”
Wabash wasted little time getting back into things, however, as the Little Giants battled back winning the first two matches of the singles competition, defeating Bertolini and Kaczkowski both in three sets.
The Tigers quickly asserted their dominance, winning the match’s final four pairings without dropping a single set.
Rodefeld, Farrell, sophomore Matt Santen and Martin won each of their matches in the final four seedings.
The win was also significant because it closes out DePauw’s play in the Western Division of the North Coast Athletic Conference. For the fourth straight season, the Tigers have ran the gauntlet undefeated at 4-0.
“It does a lot for our confidence,” Vannatta said. “We knew all along we we would have three tough matches and we'll come out ready to play.”
The Tigers will take the upcoming NCAC Championships with a grain of salt despite the unblemished record.
“It definitely gives us extra confidence knowing that we can beat good teams in our conference, but at the same time those don't really mean much in the conference tournament because every team is essentially starting with a clean slate from the season,” Farrell said.
The win over the Little Giants is also nice to get for the Tigers, based on the history the two schools have in all athletic events.
“Going to this match we understood that we were playing one of biggest rivals,” junior Zach Jonas said. “Playing on their turf and being able to bring back a win for DePauw was very rewarding.”
“It just feels a little extra good to beat a school rival,” Farrell reiterated.
Next up for the Tigers is one final non-conference opponent. The Tigers will travel to Milwaukee to face Gustavus Adolphus College to face the Gusties on Saturday. After that, comes the NCAC Championships at Kenyon College beginning on April 24.
