Box Score This was supposed to be the year that John Carroll men's tennis would take a step back after winning three consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference championships.

After all, the program's all-time leader in wins graduated along with two four-year starters. Only one doubles team would return intact.

So when the Blue Streaks trailed by a 3-0 score after being swept in doubles by Mount Union Saturday afternoon in the OAC Tournament championship match, perhaps that step back appeared to be a reality ... even after a perfect regular season record.

What happened next was a truly extraordinary script authored by the Blue Streaks.

Needing to win five of a possible six singles matches, John Carroll did just that to defeat the Purple Raiders by a 5-3 score.

Box Score

John Carroll becomes the first team to win four consecutive tournament titles since Wittenberg won five in a row from 1985-1989.

"Yeah, that was a different way to go about it," said John Carroll head coach Shaun Keenan. "Not good for the blood pressure."

Mount Union, which had lost by a 9-0 score to JCU during the regular season, came out blazing in doubles play.  Antonio Massucci and Justin Kelley crushed Tyler Cole and Parker Holyn by an 8-1 score in the #3 match, while Jackson Schneider and Mark Beebe did the same in the #2 match against the duo of David Sinense and Andy Siciliano by a similar 8-2 count.

The veteran team of Dillon O'Brien and Gustavo Garcia did their best to stem the tide. Trailing 6-3, the Blue Streaks tandem fought back to knot the score at 7-7. Unfortunately, the rally ended there and Mount Union's pair of Robert Cross and Zach Teffner prevailed 9-7.

Needing five points to win, Mount Union would need just two singles victories to claim its first title since 2009.

John Carroll had other plans, and so did "Mother Nature". No sooner did the singles matches get underway that rain moved into the area and forced a venue change.

Play would resume an hour later at the South Regency Tennis Center in Miamisburg. Once there, the Blue Streaks went to work. First, Cole polished off a 6-1 6-1 win (the 99th of his career) at #3 singles against Teffbner, and Siciliano followed soon after with a 6-2 6-0 pasting of Massucci at #4 singles.

Sinense then tied the match at three wins apiece when he completed his 6-1 6-1 victory over Schneider at #2 singles.

The comeback kept its momentum when Adi Jha, who clinched JCU's semifinal win over Baldwin Wallace, posted a 6-3 6-3 win at #5 singles over Beebe to give the Blue Streaks their first lead of the day.

The remaining two matches were still up in the air as Garcia and Cross were moving toward a second set tiebreaker at #1 singles and Scott Adsit was forced to a third set by Kelley in the #6 match. 

In the end, it would by Adsit who clinched it. After winning the first set 6-1 and dropping the second 6-4, Adsit regrouped and put together a solid third set. He won by a 6-2 score in the decider.

The senior class of Cole, Adsit, O'Brien and Ian Kurela becomes the first in JCU history to win titles all four years.

John Carroll is now 12-8 on the year while Mount Union falls to 14-4.