It was another outstanding performance by the men’s tennis team this past Wednesday, as the Cardinals destroyed Bridgewater State by a total score of 9-0 in dual match action. This victory was on the heels of another huge win last Sunday, as the squad rolled past Colby-Sawyer by an identical 9-0 score.

“Our team is an especially solid, closely knit group of guys,” said Alex Dennin ’11. “The support that everyone lends each other has led to our recent success.”

The Cardinals did not drop a set during any of their matches against Colby-Sawyer, making the team’s victory all the more impressive. The one and two matchups included captain Matt O’Connell ’09, who won 6-0, 6-3, and Grant Immerman ’09, who won a slightly tighter contest by a score of 7-6, 6-3.

Wesleyan proceeded to dominate play in the three, four, five, and six matches: Paul Gerdes ’11 easily won his match, 6-2, 6-1; Jaafar Rizvi ’09 cruised to victory 6-2, 6-1; Michael Piderit ’12 triumphed 6-0, 6-0; and Alejandro Alvarado ’09 dominated 6-1, 6-1. The story was the same in doubles, as the teams of O’Connell and Rizvi, Immerman and Piderit, and Gerdes and Matthew Buckley ’12 each cruised for the aggregate 9-0 sweep.

“Right now the biggest difference in our team is the doubles we’re playing,” O’Connell said. “It really helps our confidence when we go into singles having taken a majority of the doubles points, and so far we have been able to do that because we’re being more aggressive as a team in our doubles matches.”

Picking up right where they left off on Sunday, the Cardinals easily dispatched Bridgewater State on Wednesday in Massachusetts. The lineup was almost identical, and each singles match for Wesleyan was again won with relative ease. In fact, only one Bridgewater player was able to win more than three games in any match, in a two set loss to O’Connell 7-5, 6-0. Immerman won his match 6-2, 6-2; Gerdes handled his in an impressive 6-0, 6-0 tally; Rizvi nailed it 6-2, 6-3; and both Piderit and Alvarado won by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores. The Cardinals were equally impressive in the doubles, winning all matches by at least four points.

The Cardinals are now 5-1 overall for the fall campaign, with their only loss coming at the hands of Williams College in the first match of the year. They will next welcome NESCAC and Little Three rival Amherst College to Middletown on Monday for the team’s fall finale. While the match will certainly be a tough one, it comes as the Cards are playing their best tennis of the fall.

“We are in the best possible shape to beat Amherst on Monday” Dennin said.