In a week filled with rainouts and postponed matches, the men’s tennis team still managed to do what they always do — win. And this time, it was with ease.
It was business as usual for the Lions (12-0) on Wednesday, April 10, as they made short work out of Rutgers University-Camden, 9-0. And in this match, everyone won big.
Freshman Billy Buchbinder and senior Jordan Cruz won their matches with perfect 6-0, 6-0 marks. Freshman Pierce Cooper and junior Howard Telson both approached that result, each winning 6-0, 6-1. Seniors Marc Nichols and T.J. Riley were also victorious.
“The team was coming off of a weekend of two tough matches and they definitely got us playing well,” Telson said. “We knew that we needed to keep our intensity up for this match and the rest of the season as it winds down. After the match, we were happy with our performance and glad we didn’t have a letdown at all.”
The College ran the tables in the doubles portion of the contest, with the teams of Nichols and Telson, Riley and sophomore Jack August, and Cooper and Cruz winning all of their matches by perfect 8-0 scores.
“Jack has done an amazing job of coming back from a tough injury and really helping us this season,” Telson said. “After not being able to play for a few months, he really came back strong and has been impressing us all.”
During a rainy week, the men had a match against New York University on Friday, April 12 postponed. In addition, both the men and the women had a match at Skidmore College that was cancelled.
Both teams will resume play on Saturday, April 20, with the men taking on SUNY Oneonta at 2:30 p.m., while the women are back in action against the University of Mary Washington at 10 a.m.
With the season winding down and postseason play in the team’s sight, the College is focusing harder than ever on the stretch run. A perfect season is still alive for the men, but other huge goals are on their radar on the national scale and are certainly attainable.
“We’re just continuing to work hard in practice and trying to keep getting better,” Telson said. “We know that we’ll need to be at our best for nationals so the motivation is definitely there.”
