The Muhlenberg women’s tennis team is eighth in the Atlantic South

1. Emory 2. Washington & Lee 3. Rhodes 4. Swarthmore 5. University of the South 6. Salisbury 7. Mary Washington 8. MUHLENBERG 9. Hollins 10. Franklin & Marshall 11. Elizabethtown 12. Mississippi College 13t. Carnegie Mellon 13t. Methodist 15t. Washington (Md.) 15t. Meredith

Region, according to the ITA midseason rankings (at right).

The ranking matches the highest for the Mules, who were tied for eighth at the end of the 2002 season. Muhlenberg has played three of the seven teams it is ranked behind, defeating Swarthmore and losing to Washington & Lee and Mary Washington.

The top two Mule players also earned rankings, both for singles and as a doubles team. Senior Gena Ross and sophomore Amy Schmidt are ranked fifth in the region for doubles. They have already defeated the sixth-ranked team from Swarthmore, by an 8-2 score, and could potentially face the duo ranked a spot ahead of them in tomorrow’s home match against Washington. Ross and Schmidt are 6-1 as a doubles pair, with their only loss coming to a Washington & Lee team tied for second in the regional rankings.

In the singles rankings, Ross (4-2) is 14th, and Schmidt (11-1) is 15th. Both face challenges from Washington, as the Shorewomen’s No. 1 player is sixth in the region and their No. 2 is 18th.

The win was the 100th for Head Coach Bob Macaluso with the Mules. He joins athletic director Sam Beidleman as the only Muhlenberg baseball coaches to reach the century mark.

O’Connor struck out six and allowed only one earned run to become just the fourth ’Berg pitcher to win 15 career games. He faced the minimum number of hitters through the first four innings and did not allow a hit in the last four. It was the sixth career complete game for the lefty, who is 3-0 lifetime against the Bears (12-11-1, 7-6).

Junior Aaron Regensburg went 2-for-4, scored twice and stole three bases. The Mules (8-11-1, 3-7-1) totaled 10 steals, their most since swiping a school-record 16 bags against Beloit in 1999. Junior C.J. Kessler, sophomore Matt Tobia and freshman Ryan Sassaman stole two bases each to contribute to the third double-digit steal performance in school history.

Regensburg put the Mules ahead in the second. He singled, swiped second, moved to third on a Tobia hit and scored on a Kessler sacrifice fly. Muhlenberg added another run in third when freshman Mike Hart hit his fifth triple and came in on a Matthew Long single.

O’Connor made those two runs stand up through seven innings, and Kessler gave him a cushion in the eighth. With the bases loaded and two runs already in, the Mule leftfielder fouled off two pitches with two strikes before roping a two-run single to left to make the score 6-2.

Sassaman was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and freshman Pete Oris hit his first career triple and scored the first run of the eighth on a Regensburg single.

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