Men’s and Women’s Tennis Open Spring Season

The Colgate men’s tennis team opened its spring season last weekend in the most unusual fashion, participating in Brown University’s first ever Rock & Roll Classic, where they fell to the Bears, 5-0. The tournament dual match was composed of four singles matches and one doubles match, instead of the typical six and three. Music was also played during pre-game warm-ups right through the end of the match.

The Raiders, who utilized six different players, were led by senior captain Michael Yassky who competed in the number one spot. The youthful team, which has four first-years overall, started two rookies. First-year Alec Goldstein started in the number three slot and first-year Harry Jewett teamed up with senior John Nogueras in the lone doubles match.

“All the younger guys have talent,” Yassky said. “The question now is can they come up with the mental game to compete against top players in the conference and region. It will definitely be a steep learning curve for the freshman starters, but I think they have and will continue to learn a lot from the upperclassman.”

After the crushing loss to Brown, Colgate was able to rally back as they defeated Boston University in a grueling 4-3 victory two days later. The Raiders picked up four out of the six singles matches to clinch the victory, with wins from Yassky, Nogueras, Goldstein and Jewett, in the two, three, four, and five slots respectively.

“The men were a little off and lost to a very talented Brown team on Friday,” Head Coach Bobby Pennington said. “However, the team showed a ton of heart, courage, and maturity winning a thrilling marathon match against Boston U.”

Pennington’s week was far from over, though, as he and the women’s team traveled to Ithaca  on Tuesday afternoon to take on Cornell University for their first match this spring, where they opened the season by being blanked 9-0.

The match featured senior captain and All-Patriot League First Team award-winner for the 2008-09 season Elise DeRose at first singles, senior captain Samantha Inacker in the second slot and new team members, first-years Merideth Rock and Asia Lamar, and sixth singles and third doubles, respectively.

Although the Raiders failed to win the match, Rock managed to see the positives in her first ever collegiate match.

“We played well especially in singles,” Rock said. “And our team chemistry is great.”

The men and women return to action this weekend, hitting the road together to visit Siena on Friday, and then hosting Rochester in both teams’ first home match of the season at the Sandford Field House on Saturday.

Contact Jackie Finn at [email protected].