Although the spring seems just a distant memory for most of us, the men’s and women’s tennis teams have been eagerly anticipating these next few months all off-season. Each team has talented senior leadership and several underclassmen hoping that all of their off-season efforts will come to fruition as they commence a successful campaign towards the Patriot League Championships.

The men’s team has been selected to finish fourth in the Patriot League after an 8-11 record last season that ended with an early loss to Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament. The men will have to dethrone the league favorite and two-time Patriot League Champions, Army, if they want to bring home the the title this year.

Senior captain Martin MacIntyre will be the strength of the men’s team as he ended his 2008 season with a myriad of awards including Patriot League Player of the Year. This fall he was selected as Patriot League player of the month in October as well as November. Talented juniors Michael Yassky and John Nogueras will assist MacIntyre in improving on last year’s 8-11 record in both singles and doubles action. Sophomores Ruslan Goussiantnikov and Phil Bernasek will look to assist the team in doubles as they partnered together throughout most of last year and this fall season.

This past weekend, the men had unfortunate outings against Fairfield and St. John’s. The men lost to Fairfield 6-1, as MacIntyre was the only Raider successful in the singles competitions, winning his match against Fairfield’s Aaron Chan 6-4, 6-1. The men would look to rebound against St. John’s, but were swept in the match 7-0 to fall to 0-2 on the year. The team’s only win came from the No. 1 doubles position where MacIntyre and Nogueras redeemed themselves from the past day’s loss, defeating St.John’s Martin Kosut and Stefan Nikolic 8-7 (7-3). However, the rest of the team lost their respective matches, including MacIntyre’ first singles loss this season.

Despite the early loss, Marty MacIntyre remains optimistic.

“We have a great group of guys this year, including five returning starters. The key to our success is going to be getting everyone on the same page and we are off to a great start. If we keep pushing each other like we have been we will put ourselves in a great position to be successful,” MacIntyre said.

Captains junior Elise DeRose and senior Erin Fenn will lead the women’s team this year. These two will also be responsible for the women’s battle for a Patriot League Championship. The Raiders were predicted to place third in the Patriot League this season with four-time defending league champion, Army, predicted to finish first. Last year’s two First-Team All-Patriot League selections, DeRose and junior Samantha Inacker will lead the team in number one singles and number one doubles. The Raiders look to ride these players in an attempt to battle Army for a league title.

Like the men’s team, the women’s team was also unsuccessful in securing its first victory of the season. The women lost a disheartening match 7-0 to Syracuse as they collectively failed to win a match against the Orange. In the next day’s Fairfield match, DeRose would go on to win her first match of the season in No. 1 singles against Kristen Liu 6-4, 7-5. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was unable to follow suit as they once again lost every match. Fairfield prevailed in the match with a final score of 6-1 as the Colgate women’s team fell to 0-2 on the season.

Unfortunately, both men’s and women’s teams have had rocky starts this season, but if the leadership on both of these squads lives up to the expectations, Colgate tennis could turn the tables experience one of its best seasons in recent memory.