The men’s and women’s Colgate tennis teams competed in the Bucknell Fall Invitational, held from September 9-11 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Highlighting the event for the Raiders was sophomore Lauren Hyland’s 5-7, 7-6 and 10-7 comeback victory in the Flight 1 Women’s Singles Championship. This is her second overall victory at the Bucknell Invite.

To go with Hyland’s four singles victories over the weekend, Hyland and first-year doubles partner Lauren O’Brien grabbed a victory in the women’s doubles portion of the invite to give Hyland a five-win weekend leading her team. A member of the All-Patriot League Second Team in her first season last year, Hyland is looking to improve on her success as she strives for the ultimate Patriot League honor of Player of the Year. Head coach Bobby Pennington had high praise for his sophomore star after her big performance this past weekend.

“I was so proud of Lauren, her play, effort and demeanor,” Pennington said. “Overall, it was a solid weekend as the ladies played a ton of matches, got off some of the rust and fought hard.” 

A very young women’s team also saw two other competitors go deep into their respective singles tournaments. First-year Jordan Williams won two three-set matches before falling in her Flight 1 semifinals match to Villanova first-year Carina Burdick 6-3, 6-3. O’Brien also made the Flight 1 consolation final. The women  look to benefit from this great competitive experience, as the team has great talent, but is lacking in experience.

The men’s team put together a promising start to their 2016-2017 campaign with an invitational that saw them win 17 matches. Senior Jake Hirschberg, sophomore Noah Rosenblat, senior Win Reynolds and senior Dean Koman each won their respective first-round singles match before each fell in the second round of play. In doubles play, the team of Hirschberg and Reynolds won two matches before being defeated in the semifinals of Flight 1 doubles. Pennington spoke of the team’s ability to improve on this performance in preparation for their next match.

“I thought the men were a bit rusty physically and mentally. They played well in doubles, but lost a couple heartbreakers in singles. Overall, we went 17-15 on the weekend. We need to step up and work hard the next 11 days to prepare for the field at Binghamton,” Pennington said. 

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams will take the weekend off before getting back into action September 23-25. The men will travel to Vestal, NY to compete in the Binghamton Invitational, while the women will travel to West Point, NY to play in the West Point Invitational at the United States Military Academy.