The Wesleyan men’s tennis team enjoyed a strong fall short-season, in which they managed a 3-1 record. Despite not playing any NESCAC foes in the fall, the Cardinals hoped to carry their success over to the spring season, in which they will play a majority of matches against NESCAC opponents. Fresh off of a successful spring break trip to Florida that saw them go 3-2 against some stiff competition, the team looked to start NESCAC play off right with an important game against Little Three rival Amherst. Unfortunately, the Lord Jeffs came prepared to play, downing the Cardinals in Wes’ home opener by a score of 7-2.

A depleted Amherst squad outplayed the Cardinals’ sophomore-heavy lineup.  Many of Amherst’s players were unable to attend as they were participating in a match at MIT.  The wins for the Cardinals came from two of the five sophomores that make up the Cardinals’ top six: Jeff Legunn ’13 at singles one-seed and Donald Kleckner ’13 at the five-seed.

Legunn played a strong match from the top spot. He went down in the first set 3-6, but rallied in the second and managed a clutch 7-6 win. With the sets tied at 1-1, Legunn held on for a big 10-7 tiebreak win to clinch the match. Kleckner was also pushed to tiebreak, and enjoyed a similar result, from a slightly different route. After a big 6-3 first set win against his Williams opponent, Kleckner dropped the second by the same score, forcing a tiebreaker. He came away with the 10-5 win, and the match to boot. Michael Piderit ’12, Alex Hirsch ’13, and Michael Glen ’13 at the second, third, and sixth seeds, respectively, all lost in straight sets to an Amherst team that is currently ranked second in Division III. John Parsons ’14, playing in the fourth spot, was unable to finish his match due to injury, and thus forfeited after losing the first set 0-6.

The doubles competition also favored Amherst, which took all three matches. The closest chance Wesleyan had in those contests was from Garret Blank ’11 and Robert Troyer ’12 at the third doubles spot, but in the end, they joined the teams of Legunn/Piderit (3-8) and Kleckner/Hirsch (1-8) with a 5-8 loss.

Despite the discouraging results, the Cardinals remain hopeful that they can continue the winning ways that marked their spring training trip and fall season. The men look to get back on track with a match slated for this coming Tuesday at home against Western Connecticut.