Last week the men and women’s tennis teams faced two Patriot League opponents, Lafayette and Army. Both teams were able to defeat the Lafayette Leopards, but the Black Knights of Army proved to be too strong for Colgate.

On Saturday, the Colgate men took on Lafayette at Eastside Racquet Club outside of Syracuse. For the second match in a row, the Raiders were able come out on top of an extremely close match, earning a 4-3 victory.

The men started off well by winning the doubles point. At first doubles, co-captains senior Tyler Deck and junior Martin MacIntyre defeated Lafayette’s number one team, 8-4. The first-year duo of Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiantnikov dominated their third doubles match, winning 8-1.

T-Deck, Marty Mac and Phil the Thrill all picked up their second wins of the day in singles action, giving Colgate a 4-3 victory. MacIntyre surrendered only one game to Matt McGranaghan at first singles, winning 6-1, 6-0. At third singles, Deck defeated Brett Kraft 6-4, 6-2. Bernasek also won in straight sets, as he prevailed over Lee Kojanis at fourth singles, 6-3, 6-1.

The Raiders did not have much time to celebrate their second Patriot League win of the season, as they traveled to West Point late Saturday to take on Army the following morning.

The doubles competition was a nail-biter, as it came down to a tiebreak at second doubles. Army got on the board first, winning the third doubles match, but Colgate evened the score with Deck and MacIntyre’s fifth straight win at first doubles. The deciding match at second doubles was between sophomores John Nogeruas and Michael Yassky and Tripp Johnson and Jordan Gridley. Unfortunately, the Raiders fell just short of winning the match and the doubles point, as Army won the tiebreak, 7-5.

The Black Knights played great tennis in the singles competition by winning five of the six matches. The lone Colgate victory came at first singles, where Martin MacIntyre defeated Phil Mulawi in two tight sets, 7-5, 7-6. MacIntyre is currently riding a nine-match winning streak and has an excellent chance at winning the Patriot League Player of the Year award, as he is undefeated in conference play. Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiantnikov fought extremely hard in their fourth and sixth singles matches, respectively. Bernasek and Tripp Johnson traded 6-4 sets before Johnson won a super breaker 10-5. Goussiantnikov lost a heartbreaker to Johnny Lucero. Lucero won the first set 6-3, but Goussiantnikov took the second 7-6. The super breaker went the distance with Lucero prevailing 13-11, giving the Black Knights a 6-1 victory over Colgate.

The men finished off their regular season by showing up the Siena Saints, 6-1 in Loudonville, New York. Although MacIntyre lost in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, the rest of the team picked up the Patriot League’s best by dominating the competition with eye-popping scores. Nogueras(6-3,6-0), Deck(6-4, 6-2), Bernasek (6-4,6-3), Yassky(6-1,6-2) and Goussiantnikov(6-1,6-0) rocked singles play. Yassky is now 13-5 overall at singles. The first and third doubles teams won 8-4, while the second doubles team won 8-2. The men, who sit in third place in the Patriot League, will now look forward to the Patriot League Tournament, which will be held at Colgate during Spring Party Weekend. Should be fun.

Like the men, the women took on Lafayette last Saturday and completed Colgate’s sweep of the Leopards.

The Raiders dominated the doubles, easily winning all three matches. Sophomores Elise DeRose and Samantha Inacker won their twelfth doubles match of the spring with their 8-3 victory over Ansley Scudder and Sarah Sykes. Junior captain Erin Fenn and first-year Isabel Reimer dominated at second doubles, winning 8-1. Closing out the sweep was the first-year tandem of Stephanie Bender and Jen Marquit, who won their third doubles match, 8-2.

Riding the momentum of their doubles victories, the women went on to win five of the six singles matches for a 6-1 victory. The sophomore trio of DeRose, Inacker and Jackie Stimmel won their respective first, second and fifth singles matches with matching scores of 6-2, 6-1. Reimer cruised at third singles defeating Jacqui Bonder 6-0, 6-2. Erin Fenn pulled out a close victory at fourth singles, as she won the first set in a tiebreaker and the second set, 6-4.

Unfortunately, Colgate was no match for a resoundingly tough Army squad, losing 6-1. Army is 5-0 in the Patriot League and sports an unbelievable 22-7 overall record. Inacker won Colgate’s lone match last Sunday, taking her second singles match in matching 6-2 sets over Niki Flack. The Black Knights took all three doubles matches and five of the six singles matches in straight sets. The Maroon-News will cover yesterday’s women’s tennis match against Binghamton next week. Up next for the women is the Patriot League championship. Seedings and dates have not yet been announced, although the women have clinched third place in the conference and will most likely play second-place Navy in the Patriot League semifinals.