Many great philosophers have existed since the beginning of time. Legendary tennis players have graced the courts since the invention of the sport. However, how many philsophizing tennis players have you met in your lifetime?

Junior co-captain Martin MacIntyre is a philsophy major who is essentially a mix of the wise Confucius and the resilient Michael Chang. He is also Colgate’s No. 1 singles player. MacIntyre won the Flight 1 tournament at the ECAC Men’s Open Championship last Saturday via sheer dominance and determination. He made quick work of Cabrini’s Kuang Luo, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round before making mincemeat out of NYU’s Mikhail Gurevich, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. Only Delaware’s Austin Longacre stood between MacIntyre and his well-deserved gold. Somehow, Longacre took six of eight games in the first set to open a commanding lead. However, like Michael Chang in the 1989 French Open, the beastly MacIntyre would not go quietly into that good night. He swiftly took the next two sets, 6-4 and 6-3 to win the gold in stunning fashion. MacIntyre was the only Colgate Raider to win gold on the day.

Elsewhere, sophomore John Nogueras defeated Oneonta’s Shane Raymo, 6-2,6-1 before bowing out to an extremely lucky Troy List of Lehigh, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. First-year Phil Bernasek continued Colgate’s dominance of NYU by defeating Matthew Gross in the first round of the Flight 3 singles. Bernasek defeated Lehigh’s John Bolcar in three sets in the semifinals, but Fairfield’s Ryan Berthod got some good bounces and won the Flight 3 final in three sets, 6-2,1-6,7-5. Senior and co-captain Tyler Deck had an unusual off day and lost to Delaware’s Chris Hinker in straight sets, but Deck will storm back with a vengeance next time much like the WWF’s Stone Cold Steve Austin did after he was run over by a car in the Kiel Center parking garage by a jealous Rikishi Phatu in 1999.

In doubles action, the senior tandem of Michael Shea and Sam Jacboson proved why Colgate is a superior school to NYU in every way except protesting by beating the duo of Michael Greene and Karol Kocemba, 6-2,6-4. Jacobson could not compete in the semifinals and was replaced by sophomore Michael Yassky. Unfortunately, Yassky and Shea lost to Lafayette’s Brett Kraft and Eric Wiley 6-2, 6-4. Despite the loss, Yassky will retain his title as the best tennis player that currently resides in Roosevelt Island.

MacIntyre and the Raiders will take a well-deserved four-week sabbatical before gracing everyone with their collective presence at the ITA Northeast Regional in New Jersey, also known as the greatest landmass on planet Earth.