Flawless Victories for Women’s Tennis

Colgate tennis aced last weekend’s competition, as the women continued their unbeaten streak while the men picked up their much-anticipated first win of the season.

The Raider women have certainly started their spring season in style, as they are off to their best start since 1994 when Colgate won its first 12 matches of the season. The Raiders added two more victories to their undefeated record last weekend when they beat both Siena and the University of Rochester with identical 7-0 scores. The women are now 6-0.

On Saturday, the women easily defeated Siena, winning two of the three doubles matches and sweeping the singles. The Raiders picked up straight set victories at five of the six spots. At second singles, sophomore Samantha Inacker won her fourth straight match by defeating Karina Davis, 6-2, 6-1. The bottom half of Colgate’s lineup simply dominated as junior captain Erin Fenn and sophomores Cameron Williams and Jackie Stimmel only surrendered a combined six games. While her teammates provided a number of easy wins, sophomore Elise DeRose provided much of the drama, as she battled it out at first singles with Siena’s Sarah Mayer. DeRose lost her first set of the season when Mayer won the opening set 6-4, but she was determined to preserve her unbeaten record. She fought back and won the final two sets, 6-4 and 6-4.

On the following day, women carried over their run of success by handing the University of Rochester Yellowjackets their first loss of the season. The Raiders easily won all three doubles matches, losing only five games in three contests. Stimmel and Inacker showed their opponents no mercy, as they both “double bageled” their opponents, 6-0, and 6-0. Meanwhile, Fenn and Williams also posted straight set victories. All four players are now 5-1 in singles this season. First-year Isabel Reimer had a great comeback at third singles, defeating Alexa Perry in three sets after losing the first set, 6-1. DeRose also continued her dominance at first singles, winning her sixth straight match.

Not to be overshadowed, the Colgate men also played well last weekend, winning their first dual match of the year in style by defeating the University of Rochester, 6-1.

The Raiders started strong, as they swept the doubles matches. The number one team of co-captains junior Martin MacIntyre and senior Tyler Deck and the third doubles tandem of first-years Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiantnikov both crushed their opponents, 8-2. The sophomore duo of Michael Yassky and John Nogueras defeated Patrick Sheehan and Bennett Peterson, 8-4.

The men carried the momentum from their doubles victories into singles, winning five of the six matches in straight sets. At first singles, MacIntyre handed Brian Bowman a 6-0, 6-1 loss, while Bernasek also won convincingly at fourth singles. Nogueras and Yassky continued to play solid tennis. Nogueras posted a 6-0, 6-2 victory at third singles while Yassky defeated Dan Barbash, 6-3, 6-0 at fifth singles. Yassky is now 6-0 on the season. At sixth singles, Goussiantnikov won his first singles match of the year when he dominated Adam Crosby, 6-2, 6-0.

The men will travel to Ithaca on Wednesday to face Cornell. Also, be sure to come out and support both the men and the women on Saturday when they host Quinnipiac in their final home matches before spring break.