Both Raider tennis teams faced off against the Quinnipiac Bobcats last Saturday at the Sanford Field House, but unfortunately the two matches produced different results.

The women’s winning streak of six straight victories came to a halt last weekend, as the Bobcats handed them their first loss of the season, 5-2. The Raiders got off to a strong start as they took the doubles point with wins at first and third doubles. At first doubles, sophomores Samantha Inacker and Elise DeRose had an incredible comeback. Down 6-3, the duo rallied to take the next five games and defeat Quinnipiac’s top pair, 8-6. Junior Erin Fenn and sophomore Jackie Stimmel played an incredible match to defeat Shawna Sarson and Lisanne Stewart, 8-5. With nearly every game going to deuce, the pair was able to outlast the Quinnipiac tandem in the nearly two-hour match, which certainly classifies it as an epic doubles match. It was Fenn and Stimmel’s seventh straight doubles victory this season, thus preserving their undefeated record.

Unfortunately, the Bobcats proved to be very tough in singles, winning five of the six matches. The lone win came from Stimmel at the sixth singles spot. Stimmel certainly had a long day at the office on Saturday. As if she hadn’t already played enough tennis after her marathon doubles match, her singles match also went the distance, lasting more than two hours. It was a baseline battle between her and Sarson, with Sarson taking the first set, 6-4. But Stimmel was driven to win her team another point as she fought back to claim the second set, 6-4 and prevailed 10-4 in a super breaker. First-year Isabel Reimer also fought extremely hard in her third singles match. After losing the first set, 6-2 to Adrienne Markison, it was neck and neck for the duration of the second set that went to a tiebreaker with Markison prevailing 7-5.

The Colgate men had a much better outcome than the women, as they won their second straight match by dominating the Quinnipiac Bobcats, 7-0.

The Raiders swept the doubles matches. The number one team of junior Martin MacIntyre and senior Tyler Deck won their fifth match of the season by trouncing Quinnipiac’s Dillon Krause and Charles Feldman, 8-2. The sophomore duo of John Nogueras and Michael Yassky had a thriller at second doubles, winning 9-7. At third doubles, first-years Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiantnikov completed the Colgate sweep with an 8-4 victory.

In a mirror image of doubles play, the Colgate men swept Quinnipiac, taking all six singles matches. “T-Deck” and Goussiantnikov both provided the Raiders with straight set victories at the third and sixth spots respectively. Yassky has been simply unstoppable this season, as he also won in straight sets, improving his record to 7-0. At first singles, MacIntyre defeated Dillon Krause in three sets, triumphing 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. In his first match at second singles, “J-Nog” earned his spot by coming back after losing the first set, taking the final sets with matching 6-2 scores. Bernasek started and finished his match impressively, as he defeated Scott Salway 6-0, 4-6, 6-0.

The women will next face off against the University of Albany on Tuesday at 3 p.m. The men’s next match will be against Florida Gulf Coast University on Sunday, March 16th in Fort Myers, Florida.