The men’s tennis team closed out its fall season with a pair of home victories over Babson College and Nichols College, improving to 5-0 overall and finishing the fall slate of matches undefeated for the second time in five seasons. (The Cardinals also won their first five matches of the 2005-06 campaign, including all four in the fall.)

Wesleyan took on Babson last Thursday and pulled out a 5-4 victory. Behind the strong play of its top two pairings, the Cardinals led 2-1 at the conclusion of doubles play. The No. 1 duo of Jeff Legunn ’13 and Michael Piderit ’12 took an 8-5 win, and Don Kleckner ’13 and Ravy Uong ’13 rolled to an 8-3 triumph at the second spot. Garrett Blank ’11 and Michael Glen ’13 suffered an 8-5 defeat at No. 3.

The teams split the singles matches, meaning Wesleyan’s two doubles victories proved to be the difference. Legunn, in his final action of the fall, earned a 6-3, 6-4 win at the top spot, and Uong rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 3. A three-set triumph by Alex Hirsch ’13 (6-2, 4-6, 6-1) gave Wesleyan its fifth victory on the afternoon and its fourth match win of the fall. Three other Cardinals fall in close singles matches. At No. 2, Piderit took the first set 6-0 but fell in the second 7-6 and suffered a 10-7 defeat in the tiebreaker. Kleckner (No. 4; 6-1, 7-5) and Glen (No. 6; 7-5, 6-3) also suffered narrow defeats.

The Cardinals closed out their fall action on Sunday with an 8-1 victory over Nichols. Wesleyan swept all three doubles matches, led by Kleckner and Hirsch, who did not drop a game in an 8-0 triumph at the No. 2 spot. Uong and Piderit also rolled to an 8-4 win at No. 1, and the No. 3 tandem of Robert Troyer ’12 and Brian McDermott ’12 took an 8-5 decision.

Piderit, playing No. 1 singles in place of Legunn, rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win, and Blank did the same at No. 5. Glen did not drop a game in his straight-sets win at No. 6, and Hirsch had an easy time at No. 3, earning a 6-2, 6-1 triumph. Kleckner, playing in the fourth position, pulled out a 6-4, 7-6 triumph. Uong ran into a bit of trouble at No. 2, falling 6-0, 6-3 in his match.

Arguably the most impressive part of Wesleyan’s dominant fall is that 24 of the Cardinals’ 30 singles matches were played by freshmen, with the young Cardinals holding a 20-4 record in those matches. Legunn led the team with a 4-0 record at the top spot, and Hirsch had a 3-0 mark, mostly at No. 5. Glen posted a 4-1 record from the sixth spot, and Uong went 4-1 while splitting time between Nos. 2 and 3, including a 3-0 mark at No. 3. Kleckner posted a 3-1 mark at No. 4, and John Parsons ’13 amassed a 2-1 record. Freshmen also dominated doubles action, as at least one frosh was on the court for 11 of the Cardinals’ 15 doubles battles this fall. Wesleyan held an 8-3 mark in those matches but went just 1-3 in the four frosh-less matches.

Thanks to a similarly dominant performance, both Wesleyan tennis teams hold a combined record for 9-0, the first time both teams have ended the fall campaign unbeaten since the men switched to a fall/spring schedule in 1999. Both squads have five months to rest before resuming play in March with their annual spring break trip to Orlando, Fla.