It was a very successful weekend for Colgate tennis, as both the men’s and women’s teams earned their first Patriot League victories of the season. The men’s tennis team completed a perfect weekend with wins over Army and Lafayette, while the women’s team split their two games.

Army was considered the favorite in the matchup, but the Colgate men’s tennis team pulled off the upset, winning 4-3. The loss dropped Army to a 9-7 record overall and 3-1 in conference play. The Raiders swept doubles play by winning all three matches. Senior captains Michael Yassky and John Nogueras defeated Army’s Chris Albornoz and Johnny Lucero, 8-3. The second match was no different as senior Phil Bernasek and junior Rusian Goussiantnikov downed Army’s Tripp Johnson and Alex Holland, 8-5. First-years Alec Goldstein and Harry Jewett showed that they belonged by outlasting Army’s Rashad Shelton and Dan Shaffer, 8-6.

Singles play was not as easy for the Raiders. Yassky dropped his first match, 6-4, 6-4, to Gary Kushnirovich. Bernasek won the second match as he outlasted Johnson, 6-4, 7-5. Goldstein defeated Lucero in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and sophomore Sean Spellberg picked up the final singles victory, downing Shelton, 7-6, 6-3.

The men’s team completed their perfect weekend by defeating Lafayette 6-1 on Sunday afternoon. With their wins over Army and Lafayette the Raiders upped their record to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

“We simply refused to lose,” Head Coach Bobby Pennington said.

In the match against Lafayette, Bernasek and Goussiantnikov downed their opponents 8-3. First-years Goldstein and Jewett continued their stellar play with a victory over Lafayette’s James Murphy and Andrew Morris at the third doubles slot. In singles play, the Raiders swept through the second and sixth positions. They were all close games as four of the five matches came down to three sets. The team’s next opponent will be Patriot League opponent Bucknell. They are scheduled to play this Saturday, April 3rd in Lewisburg, Pa.

The women’s team did not quite match the men’s success over Army as they lost to a very tough Black Knights team, 7-0. With their win, Army improved to 17-6 overall and 4-0 in league play. The Raiders played very hard but couldn’t solve their opponents. Sophomore Stephanie Brown and first-year Asia Lamar dropped their doubles match, 8-5. Seniors Elise DeRose and Cameron Williams fell to their opponents, 8-1. In singles action, DeRose fell to Army’s Houghton at the top spot, 6-4 and 6-0. Williams lost to Jessica Ahn, 6-1 and 6-2, while Brown dropped the number four match, 6-0, 6-4. However, the women’s team didn’t let the loss affect their performance against Lafayette.

The Raiders then defeated Lafayette, 6-1 and improved their record to 6-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The women won all three doubles matches. Senior Samantha Inacker and sophomore Stephanie Bender downed Rachel Rohinsky and Emily DeLuca at the second doubles spot, 8-3. After dropping the number one singles match, the Raiders earned wins at second through sixth singles. First-year Merideth Rock defeated DeLuca in the number five position, 7-5, 7-5. Like the men’s squad, the women’s next match will be against Bucknell on Saturday.