Colgate tennis wrapped up its fall play this past week, with a strong effort by top players from both the men’s and women’s teams at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regionals. Play began on Wednesday, October 18 and concluded on Monday, 

October 23. The men were off to Yale, while the women headed to Philadelphia, playing at the University of Pennsylvania. Although no Raiders made it to the final round of the tournament, both teams had a fair representation in regionals and were able to keep up with the high level of play.

Three Colgate men represented the Raiders: senior Jacob Daugherty, first-year Scott Bickel and junior Noah Rosenblat. Daugherty led the team, competing in the main draw. His first round play proved victorious, but he came up short in the second round where he faced Columbia’s Austen Huang and fell in the first two sets with scores of 6-3, 6-1.

Bickel built on his impressive first season with two qualifying match wins to reach the main draw. He is the first Colgate tennis player since Martin MacIntyre, class of 2009, in 2008 to win two qualifying matches and enter the main draw.

“Being put in the qualifier, I had to prove myself worthy of the spot in the main draw, instead of just jumping right into it. There was really good competition in the qualifier, so having the opportunity to play a few matches in that draw was great experience,” Bickel said.

Penn’s Dmitry Shatalin proved to be a tough match for Bickel in round one of the main draw. The match went to three sets, but Bickel was not able to keep up his momentum and was ultimately defeated in the last set. He went on to the consolation draw where he was able to defeat Fairleigh Dickinson University’s (FDU) Niclas Pietsch in a super tiebreaker, 6-4, 2-6, 10-4.

Joining Bickel in the consolation draw was Rosenblat, who faced FDU’s Moric Budinsky. Bickel won the first set, and

after a 0-6 loss in the second set, Rosenblat regained his focus and was able to close out the match with a third set score of 11-9.

“Out of all the fall events our players have competed in, nothing compares with the level of play at the ITA regional event. It’s an incredible opportunity to upset some of the top players in the region and country. I’m very proud of all three of the guys. They are extremely talented players and I have no doubt they will continue to do big things in the spring! It was a strong finish to a great fall season!” assistant coach Breanna Bachini said.

On the women’s side, sophomore Jordan Williams and junior Lauren Hyland represented Colgate at UPenn. Hyland competed in the main singles draw where she was defeated in the opening round by Harvard’s Annika Ringblom in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

Later in the day, Hyland and Williams teamed up for doubles. They competed against Laura Gutierrez and Natasha Tamarkin of Saint Francis. The Raiders played a good match, but unfortunately, the pair was not able to take the win, and fell 8-4.

The men will begin their spring season on January 20 at Penn State, while the women will head to Syracuse on January 26 to start off their spring matches. 

Contact Abby Waxler at [email protected].