Throughout the past few weeks, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams have kept busy as they prepare to gear up for the final leg of the spring season and face off against some major Patriot League rivals.

On Sunday, March 18, the men’s team won its fifth consecutive match against Holy Cross. The men won the match in a clean 7-0 sweep, their fourth sweep of the season. Following this victory, the team’s overall record has moved to 9-4.

The team quickly won the doubles point, with all three pairs defeating their opponents in just one set. No. 1 doubles pair senior captain Jacob Daugherty and sophomore Kun Tan ended their set with a score of 6-1, while No. 2 partners junior Noah Rosenblatt and first-year Tyler Kranz won in a tight 7-6 match. Junior Alec Dardis and first-year Jack Ablon took the third doubles match, defeating the Holy Cross pair 6-4. The men then bulldozed their way to victory by winning all six singles matches.

“It was a total team effort tonight, sweeping the doubles led by Kun Tan and rolling in singles top to bottom. We look to rest and recover this upcoming weekend to prepare for chief rivals Lehigh and Bucknell,” head coach Bobby Pennington said.

While the men were given a bye this past weekend, the women’s team stayed busy, taking on Bucknell on the road on Saturday, March 24 before returning home to host Binghamton on Sunday, March 25. Following a disappointing 2-4 loss in a Patriot League matchup to the Bison, the Raiders were able to turn it around to snag a 4-3 win against the Bearcats on Sunday.

On Saturday, Bucknell was able to gain an early lead by winning both the No. 1 and No. 3 matches in one set, cutting the No. 2 match short. This gave the home team the doubles point and left Colgate struggling to catch up. In singles play, the Raiders were able to pick up wins from first-year Mackenzie Deeter and senior Jordan Williams in the No. 1 and No. 3 matches. Unfortunately, these victories did not prove to be enough, and the Bison emerged as the victor.

“Even though we narrowly fell short, it was one of our best efforts of the entire season. We left everything out on the court and our energy was high throughout the entire match,” Deeter said. 

On Sunday, the Raiders regrouped to defeat Binghamton 4-3. Williams was undefeated for the day, winning both her singles and doubles matches. Additionally, sophomore Lauren O’Brien and senior Stephanie Fuentes won their No. 3 doubles match to win the doubles point. Seniors Kelly Klein and Cheyenne Brown both won their singles matches to clinch the win. This match marked the first time since 2004 that the women have defeated the Bearcats.

“After losing a heartbreaker on Saturday, it was cool to see everyone bounce back and fight so hard to win a match that meant a lot to all of us,” Deeter said.

Following their weekend play, the women’s record moved to 5-9 for the season, and 1-1 in conference play. The women will play their next conference game this Saturday at 10 a.m. against Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The next match for the men will be Saturday, March 31, when the Raiders travel to Lehigh to face the Mountain Hawks. The match will begin at 2 p.m.

Contact Isabel Van Wie and Annie Hayes at ivanwie@colgate.edu and [email protected].