ROCKVILLE, Md.—The Harford men's tennis team claimed its second straight Region XX championship as it downed Montgomery College-Rockville, 8-1 on Wednesday at Rockville.
The Fighting Owls (9-3) and the Knights are the only two teams in the region, causing the championship to be decided by a standard dual match, rather than a multi-team tournament format. Harford caught a break last year as they played a truncated Rockville squad and edged the Knights 5-4 for their first regional title in a few years.
The same was true on Wednesday, as Rockville fielded a team of only four players, giving Harford a 3-0 lead from the start thanks to default wins at No. 3 doubles and No.5 and No.6 singles.
Sophomore Josh Meier (Belcamp, Md./Home School) continued his outstanding season by dispatching Brad Toulbee, 7-5, 6-0 to claim the No. 2 singles title. Meier improves to an 11-1 dual match record on the year, and also teamed with freshman Cory Litka (York, Pa./Aberdeen/East Stroudsburg) to earn the No. 1 doubles crown in a hard-fought 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5) win over Andrew Ortis and Toulbee.
For his two-year career, Meier has claimed all four possible Region XX titles after earning the No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles titles in 2009.
Sophomore Steve Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston) saw action in his second Region XX championship, but came out the victor during his sophomore season, downing Jason Pfannschmidt 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in the No. 3 singles slot. Heagy also teamed with freshman Marc Donars (Joppa, Md./Harford Tech) for the No. 2 doubles win as they defeated Pfannschmidt and Tom Rigolage, 6-2, 6-3. Donars also claimed the No. 4 singles crown as he blanked Rigolage in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.
Sophomore Ben Wade (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) earned a default win for the second straight year, claiming the No. 5 singles title and also teaming with freshman Walker Bazemore (Churchville, Md./C. Milton Wright) for the No. 3 doubles default win.
Freshman Kevin O'Brien (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) was the default winner at No. 6 singles and Litka rounded out the results as he fell to Ortis, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
By virtue of claiming the Region XX championship, the Fighting Owls receive an automatic bid for the Division III NJCAA National Tennis Championship from May 10-14 at Collin College in Plano, Texas.
