Men’s Tennis Ends Regular Season

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Teams Qualifies for Patriot League Tournament

With the Patriot League Tournament on the horizon, the Colgate Men’s Tennis team closed their regular season with duels against Bucknell and Boston University. Both games took place at Drumlins Country Club in Syracuse, New York, the Bucknell duel on Friday, April 12 and the Boston University duel on Sunday, April 14.

The Friday match against Bucknell proved to be a small sample of the Raiders’ season at large—filled with bad luck. Bucknell won the team doubles point behind 6-2, 6-2 and 6-0 scores. Seniors Noah Rosenblat and Alec Dardis gave the game all they could, representing the Raiders well on Senior Night. Rosenblat won number two singles in straight sets of 6-4 and 6-3 for the Raiders’ first point of the day. Dardis then won number four singles in straight sets of 6-1 and 6-4 for the Raiders’ second team point of the day. This, however, would be the Raiders’ last point of the day, with first-year Rohan Gupta and junior Kun Tan taking their matches to the maximum number of sets, but ultimately being unable to close. Sophomore Scott Bickel was one number one single game away from winning his second set and the match, but was unable to finish.

“We have been so blessed and fortunate to have five straight seasons with really great records, where we won a ton of 4-3 decisions. Our luck simply ran out this year due to a combination of sickness and injuries, a tough schedule, weather etc,” Head Mens and Women’s Tennis Coach Bobby Pennington said. “Bucknell wanted it badly, as this is the first time since 2013 that they have beat us in the regular season. It was a tale of three matches in one. We played atrocious in doubles, dropping the point quickly. Our senior captains Rosenblat and Dardis get game balls for both winning in straight sets for us to go up 2-1. Hartman lost a tough two sets and the whole match came down to Gupta and Tan in their third sets and they both came up short. Credit to Bickel, as he looked great at No.1. We have to regroup and figure things out.”

In their final duel of the season, the Raiders were unable to win despite close individual matches littering the day. Boston University claimed the first team point in doubles by winning two of the three matches, with 6-3, 4-6 and 6-4 scores. New doubles duo Gupta and first-year Nick Porter claimed the one doubles win. Rosenblat and Dardis both held match leads, both winning their opening sets when the Terriers won on team points.

“Tough Boston U team that really came to play and showed off their talent and depth. We played much better doubles with our brand new team of Potter and Gupta winning at three doubles. In singles, the clinch format can be brutal, as we had three guys in Bickel, Rosenblat and Dardis ready to win. Sadly, Hartman, Tan and Gupta lost too quickly. Everyone seems to play their best tennis against Colgate,” Pennington said.

The Raiders will next play on Friday, April 19 in the Patriot League Tournament. The Raiders earned a bye for the first round and it is yet undetermined who they will play. The Raiders close the season with a 7-13 overall record and a 2-3 record in conference play. They will start anew, in the tournament and have a chance to turn around the season’s legacy.

“We now turn our full attention to the tournament Friday and the only weekend that counts. We must make some noise and not go down gently,” Pennington said. 

Contact Ignacio Villar Colgate Athletics at [email protected].