The Wesleyan men’s tennis team righted the ship after a pair of disappointing weekends, drubbing both College of the Holy Cross and Roger Williams University in consecutive matches on the Wood Memorial Courts. As Wesleyan’s fall season nears the end with these first two legs of a three-match homestand, the decisive 8-1 win over Holy Cross on Saturday and 9-0 shutout of Roger Williams on Sunday give the Cardinal men considerable momentum heading into their final weekend.
A particular bright spot for the Cardinals was the stellar performance in doubles play. While Wesleyan was 5-1 in doubles after the first two matches of the season, the Cardinal men were winless in doubles in their match against Williams and at the ITA Regional Tournament, dropping their record to 5-5. Experimenting with some changes in the pairings this weekend, the Cardinals went undefeated in their six doubles matches. Tri-captains Jeff Legunn ’13 and Donald Kleckner ’13 played together as the first doubles pairing for the first time this season, leading the way with an 8-5 win against Holy Cross and an 8-4 win over Roger Williams. The pairing of Stephen Monk ’15 and Ben Hudson ’15 that played as the first seed in each of their matches together this season, played as the second pairing this weekend and capitalized on the opportunity, shutting out Holy Cross 8-0 and beating Roger Williams 8-1. Coach Ken Alrutz filled the third doubles pairing by committee, with tri-captain Robert Troyer ’12 and Michael Glen ’13, winning 8-2 against Holy Cross on Saturday, while Jonathan Coombs ’15 and Alex Rachlin ’15 defeated Roger Williams by a score of 8-4 in their first match of the year.
The Cardinal men plowed through their singles play with workmanlike efficiency, dropping only one of the 12 matches they played on the weekend. Only Monk lost, falling as the second seed on Saturday against Holy Cross 2-6, 3-6. However, Monk bounced back against Roger Williams, easily dispatching his opponent 6-0, 6-2. Legunn, Hudson, Donovan Suh ’15, Alex Hirsch ’13, and Charlie Seifer ’15 all took care of business in singles, each winning two matches over the weekend.
Wesleyan will wrap up its fall season next Thursday, Oct. 6 against Salve Regina, finishing up its play at home on the Wood Memorial Courts.