The Colgate men’s tennis team enjoyed a remarkable showing this past weekend, beating two fellow Patriot League schools in Lehigh and Bucknell en route to their seventh consecutive victory.  The team marked their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015 season when the team won eight matches in a row. The Raiders now stand at 12-4 on the season, while also remaining undefeated in Patriot League play. 

On Saturday, March 31, the men defeated Lehigh for the first time in eight years, their last win against Lehigh dating back to April 10, 2010. All seven Raiders were able to pick up a win on the day, as the squad needed every victory it could get to grind out the 4-3 win. 

The No. 2 and No.3 doubles pairings of junior Noah Rosenblatt and first-year Tyler Krantz and junior Alec Dardis and first-year Jack Ablon won their matches 5-2 and 6-3, respectively. Meanwhile, all three singles victories for Colgate ran the full three sets. Senior Jacob Daugherty lost his first set 4-6, but battled back to win the next two. Bickel won the first set 7-6, then dropped an extended set in the second 5-7 before finishing strong in the third 6-2. In the No. 5 match, first-year Peter Hartman won the first and dropped the second before outlasting Lehigh’s George Cooper in the final set.

“Bar none, one of, if not, my favorite and most quality wins at Colgate. It’s the first time we’ve beaten Lehigh since 2010 and it was so deserved,” head coach Bobby Pennington said.

The next day, the Raiders took on the  Bucknell Bison, notching a win that made this season the first time since the 2008-2009 season that Colgate has beaten both Bucknell and Lehigh in the same season. 

This victory didn’t come easy – Colgate dropped two out of three of the doubles matches to drop the doubles point, while also losing the number one match in singles play. However, the team was able to impressively win out. Three of these wins came in three-setters. 

“It was an unbelievable, exhilarating weekend for our men. Back-to-back rivalry matches that were hard-fought battles. That makes us 12-4, unbeaten and second place in the Patriot League, but we are just getting started,” Pennington said. 

On the other hand, the women’s tennis team struggled, dropping their match against Lehigh 7-0 and falling to 5-10 on the season. 

That’s not for a lack of effort, however, as the No. 1 doubles match MacKenzie Deeter and Jordan Williams forced the match into extra sets but eventually lost 7-6. 

Additionally, Deeter and senior captain Kelly Klein forced three sets in singles play, dropping the first but battling back to send their matches to three sets, eventually falling. 

“Tough loss today for the ladies’ team. Lehigh is loaded one through six. Kudos to Williams and Deeter for losing in tiebreaker and to Klein and Deeter for going three sets,” Pennington said.

The women still have six matches to go, starting on Thursday against Army at home. Meanwhile, the men will take on George Mason and Navy next weekend and hope to extend their seven match win streak on the court.

Contact Neil Ahlawat at [email protected].