The men’s tennis team suffered a tough few days this past week, losing to the MIT Beavers by an 8-1 margin on Tuesday and losing all but one match in the 11-team ITA Invitational Tournament over the weekend at Williams College.

Most of the matches against the Beavers were competitive, as the Cardinals came close to picking up several wins. Assuming the role of first singles, senior tri-captain Tallen Todorovich ’07 battled to a 3-6, 3-6 loss, while Miles Krieger ’10 debuted at sixth singles with a 5-7, 2-6 defeat.

“Tallen is playing very solid at the top of the lineup,” said Max Schenkein ’08. “Always a great competitor, Tallen rises to the level of his opponents, making him a prime first singles player. MIT was a tough team for Miles to debut against, but it was good for him. He played well in the loss, and there will be plenty more chances for him in the future.”

The lone victory at MIT came on the powerful serves and excellent vollies of Matt O’Connell ’09 at fourth singles. Matt won a grueling come-from-behind match in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. Fulfilling a large role on the team this year at first doubles as well as fourth singles, O’Connell has shown a natural athletic ability and a honed sense off the court.

“Matt is solid in all aspects of tennis – good ground strokes, big serve,” Schenkein said. “He is the best athlete on the team and is starting to become a very smart tennis player.”

Despite his victory, O’Connell was humble about his individual victory.

“It’s really not about individuals winning as it is the entire team,” he said. “It felt good to win my match, but I was disappointed leaving MIT.”

MIT, a perennial top DIII team, ranked 14th in the nation in 2004, hosts a terrific talent that presented a challenge to the Cardinals. While the Beavers may not have had a significant talent advantage over the Cards, they stepped up their game to another level against the injury-plagued Wesleyan squad.

“They may have been a better team than us, but not by much,” O’Connell said. “When it comes down to a match like MIT, we just have to want it more then they do. They are on a huge rush of confidence, and we put ourselves in a tough position.”

Going into this past weekend with hope for better results, six players traveled to Williams to compete in the ITA Invitational Tournament. A large singles draw, consisting of the entire NESCAC and three top DIII schools, the ITA offered a chance for several of Wesleyan’s players to gauge themselves against NESCAC foes and improve by taking on higher-seeded opponents.

Todorovich. Paul Gerdes ’09, Quinn Olbrich ’09, and Jaafar Rizvi ’09 entered the singles draw and all exited in the first round except Rizvi, who defeated the first singles player for Tufts, Corey Keller. While going on to lose in the second round, a win over a higher-seeded opponent indicated that Rizvi has the capability to succeed in the singles lineup for the Cards this season.

In the doubles draw, Schenkein and Mike Frank ’08, Wesleyan’s third doubles team, took on Middlebury’s second doubles team. Schenkein held serve in the first game, but the tandem lost the ensuing eight games in the pro set to the highly-ranked duo of George Mayer and Alex Scott.

Ahead for men’s tennis is an Oct. 7 match at Bates College against a NESCAC team that usually ranks above the Cardinals. Many Cardinals look to this weekend as a perfect opportunity to upend a league rival and assert themselves as a legitimate force in the NESCAC.

“Our team is very talented but has yet to prove that we can compete with the best teams out there,” said Graham Immerman ’09. “A win over Bates would help us and others realize that we can absolutely achieve that level of play.”