Men’s Tennis Smashes Holy Cross and Loses to Army in PL Tourney

The men’s tennis season was a great run for a team led by dominant senior leadership and talented underclassmen. Unfortunately, the season ended prematurely for the men’s team in the Patriot League tournament as the second-seeded Raiders fell to third-seeded Army in the second round of the tournament.

The men absolutely obliterated Holy Cross by sweeping the Crusaders in all singles and doubles matches, winning 4-0. Senior captain Martin MacIntyre wanted to end his Colgate career with a bang and was en route to defeating Matt Wierzel (6-0, 3-2) in singles play, but his match was halted because Colgate clinched the quarterfinal win before McIntyre was able to get the straight-set victory. All the Raiders continued in MacIntyre’s blue print for success as junior Michael Yassky, sophomore Ruslan Goussaintnikov and freshman Sean Spellberg won all of their singles matches, losing only three games in the process. Like McIntyre, junior John Nogueras and sophomore Phil Bernasek were en route to winning before their matches were halted.

However, Army was just too hot to handle and too angry after its 4-3 loss to Colgate in the regular season. The Black Knights won 4-0 in the semifinal round. The only win that Colgate mustered was in doubles competition as Bernasek and Goussaintnikov defeated Chris Albornoz and Bruno Lucivero 8-4. Unfortunately, Army grabbed the doubles point with 8-4 and 8-3 wins.

Although the Raiders will be losing the great MacIntyre next year, the Raiders still have a large core returning to the team. MacIntyre is the only player leaving the team, so a Raider squad that closed their season at a surprising 12-8 with a 4-1 record in the Patriot League can still look to bright future.