The Colgate men’s tennis team kicked off its season with a pair of losses in Rhode Island against Bryant and Brown. Colgate stayed tight on Bryant’s heels, fi­nally losing in a 4-3 decision on Satur­day, but faltered more quickly under the Bears’ raquets with a 7-0 loss on the books on Sunday.

Colgate’s leading singles players, sophomore Luke Gensburg and classmate Bobby Berkowitz, both took wins off the Bulldogs on Saturday. Gensburg took down his Bryant opponent with a quick 6-0 shut out in the first set and 6-4 win in the second. Berkowitz played three sets to secure his win. He defeated Bry­ant’s Zachary Morris 6-2 in the first set and 7-5 in the final set after dropping the second set 3-6.

Junior Alec Goldstein was a third Raider to take home a victory, coming up in the fourth spot on the singles lad­der. He won two sets 6-3 and 6-4. Un­fortunately, he was the last Colgate play­er to post a win, as the remaining three doubles teams and three singles players were unable to defeat their Bryant opponents.

The men traveled south in hopes of turning the weekend around before re­turning home to Hamilton, but they were met with a fierce Brown opposition that stopped them in their tracks. Colgate dropped all seven matches to the Bears.

First-year Alan Pleat, for his part, played the most competitive match of the day as he pushed Brown’s Timmy Klanke to a third-set tie-breaker after falling 6-0 in the first set and taking the second 6-3. Despite a hard-fought set, he finally fell in a 10-8 decision.

The team is determined not to let their weak opening weekend set the tone for the rest of the season. With nine out of ten players on the roster returning, the men hope to find a new rhythm in 2012.

Colgate hits the road again this up­coming weekend as it travels to meet opponents Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Pa. and Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pa. the following day. Matches begin at 4 p.m. against Duquesne and 2 p.m. against Robert Morris.

Contact Emma Barge at [email protected].