The Wesleyan men’s tennis team probably was not prepared to face an opponent of Williams’ caliber at this point in its development. With the new freshmen and incumbent upperclassmen still in the process of cohering as a unit, the doubles pairings still, by and large, a work in progress, and the absence of Ben Hudson ’15 throwing the lineup into further flux, the host Ephs handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season by a score of 8-1 in a rare fall NESCAC tilt.
The Cardinal men were still able to keep it competitive against a Williams squad that finished fourth in the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championship last May. On the singles side, #1-seed and tri-captain Jeff Legunn ’13 led by example in a tough-fought 4-6, 3-6 loss against one of the most formidable teams in the nation, while Stephen Monk ’15, filling the #3-seed normally occupied by fellow freshman Hudson, pulled out a win over his opponent, battling to a victory by a score of 7-6, 7-5 to put Wesleyan on the board. The Cardinals’ doubles pairings were especially hurt by the loss of Hudson, as he and Monk were undefeated in their two matches as Wesleyan’s top doubles pairing.
Without Hudson, Wesleyan trotted out Legunn and Monk as their #1-seed, followed by one of their regular pairings in tri-captain Donald Kleckner ’13 and Charlie Seifer ’15, with Alex Hirsch ’13 and tri-captain Robert Troyer ’12, neither of whom had played doubles previously this season, at the #3-seed. With the team somewhat scrambling to field a squad outside of its usual lineup, the three doubles pairings each fell in their matches, the closest being Hirsch and Troyer by a score of 4-8.
Nonetheless, the experience gained from facing this level of competition before NESCAC play kicks off in earnest in the spring is valuable for this young Cardinals squad, who are looking to make some noise against its conference rivals.
“Obviously we are never happy with a loss, but overall I couldn’t have asked for more from our team,” Legunn said. “Overall, we all played well, and I am excited to see how we will be as a team in the spring. We are still figuring out our lineup, and when we get that in order, I think we will be a really strong force in the NESCAC.”
The Cardinal men will get another crack at the highest level of Division III competition this coming weekend, as Wesleyan travels back to Williamstown to compete in the ITA Championships. While this past weekend’s result left something to be desired, the team is determined to take every chance it can get to prove it can hang with the best teams in the nation.
“We have some really good players on our team this year,” Legunn said. “I am excited to see how we can compete against the top players from the NESCAC schools.”