Last weekend the Colgate men’s and women’s tennis teams participated in the Bucknell Invitational Tennis Tournament. Both teams capitalized on the opportunity to improve on what has thus far been a lackluster fall campaign. The men’s singles success was characterized by a first-year who will greatly contribute this year, Alec Goldstein, while senior Elise DeRose anchored the women.

Goldstein dominated the Flight C Singles competition as he went 4-0 in the tournament to win the Flight C draw. His wake of downtrodden foes included UConn’s Matt Burns (6-3, 6-2), Bucknell’s Clark Bogle (6-0, 6-1) and Fairleigh Dickinson’s Marco Jemersic (3-6, 6-2, 10-6). Goldstein defeated UConn’s Wei Lin (6-4, 6-1) for the Flight C Championship match.

Sadly, the rest of the men couldn’t follow in Goldstein’s suit as seniors Michael Yassky and John Nogueras as well as sophomore Sean Spellburg all lost their first round matches in Flight A Singles competition. However, Spellburg went on to redeem himself in the consolation bracket by ousting George Mason’s Patrick Mulquin, 8-7 (8-6) and Bucknell’s Greg Maxson, 8-3. First-years Harry Jewett and Parker Lewis also managed to make it to the finals of the Flight B Doubles tournament. Despite winning their first two matches against George Mason University’s Karl Babin and Imran Nayeem and Fairleigh Dickinson’s Mark and Dominic Henry, Jewett and Lewis ultimately fell to UConn’s Ricardo Cardona and Tim Cook 8-1 in the title match.

The highlight of the women’s team at Bucknell was the sensational play of Elise DeRose. After having missed last week’s tournament, DeRose didn’t skip a beat as she managed to make it to the semi-final round of both the Flight A Singles and Doubles tournaments. Her first victim was UConn’s Alison Campitiello (6-3, 7-5) followed by Bucknell’s Lauren Lucido (6-1, 6-1). DeRose was downed by Fairleigh Dickinson’s Elmine Botes (6-0, 6-4) who went on to win the Flight A Singles tournament. DeRose and fellow senior Cameron Williams received a bye in the first round of the Flight A Doubles tournament. They went on to defeat Bucknell’s Tania Varela and Carlin Calcaterra, 8-6 and advanced to the semi-final round where they were trounced by Fairleigh Dickinson’s Elmine Botes and Julia Korsunova, 8-2. Williams and fellow senior Samatha Inacker both went 0-2 in Flight A Singles competition putting a dimmer on the women’s trip to Lewisburg.

Expect Goldstein, Jewett and Lewis to be valuable additions to a Colgate team laden with talented upperclassmen such as Yassky and Nogueras and an emerging talent in Spellburg. The women will have to follow DeRose’s lead as she has established herself as the heart and soul of the women’s team for the upcoming season. However, DeRose will need the help of a talented core of seniors including Inacker, Williams and Jackie Stimmel. Clearly, both teams continue to make significant strides with each fall match and look to be in excellent shape for this point in the season.