Box Score OLATHE, Kan. – The William Woods University Men's Tennis team was defeated by Baker University, 5-4, on Saturday afternoon in the NAIA Association of Independent Heart of America and American Midwest Conference Tournament.
 
The Owls, who defeated Baker on April 15th, came up just short on Saturday. Baker took No. 1 doubles, 8-0, to start the match on Saturday. Johnnie Carmichael and Stefan Simic tied the match at 1-1 after winning No. 2 doubles, 8-3. The Wildcats took the lead, 2-1, when they edged Christian Barbieri and David Barbieri, 9-7, in No. 3 doubles.
 
The Owls bounced back tying the match at 2-2 after it took the first singles match of the day. Carmichael defeated Blake Barnard, 6-3, 6-1. WWU took a 3-2 lead after Simic defeated Connor Petty, 6-0, 6-1, in No. 6 singles.
 
William Woods grew the lead to 4-2 after Marcos Vinicius Prates Constantino defeated Gavin Webster, 6-4, 6-4, in No. 5 singles. After taking the first three singles matches, the Owls needed one more point to advance to the Conference Championship.
 
However, the Wildcats finished strong as the took the final three singles matching to clinch the match over the Owls. Spartak Rahachou defeated Christian Barbieri, 6-3, 6-1, in No. 1 singles. Taylor Ficke defeated David Barbieri, 6-3, 6-3, in No. 3 singles tying the match at 4-4.
 
The match came down to the No. 4 singles match between Elias Fernandez and Thomas Irick. Irick came away with the victory, 6-4, 6-2, to clinch the match for the Wildcats of Baker.
 
The Owls fall to 8-8 on the season.