The men’s tennis team had a monumental week with four conference wins. The first two came against unranked Hamilton and Trinity, while the last two came against ranked opponents in Amherst and Bates. The win against Little Three rival Amherst was the second to last win of the week, and perhaps the biggest in recent years. The four wins make the Cardinals 9-5 for the season and 5-3 in the NESCAC. The Cards secured the team’s entrance into postseason NESCAC play.

In the first match of the week, Wesleyan cruised past opposing Trinity, 8-1. The team went 2-1 in doubles action, continuing its dominance in this particular area of play. The duo of Mike Liu ’17 and Steven Chen ’18 claimed an 8-1 win over their opponents at the No. 2 doubles position. At the No. 3 position, Sam Rudovsky ’16 and Joachim Samson ’19 edged their opponents in a close 9-8 battle. The Cards then swept the singles matches with ease. At the top of the lineup, Liu, Chen and Tiago Eusebio ’18 won at the No. 1, 2, and 3 positions in straight sets, respectively. Liu won quickly at 6-1, 6-1, while Chen defeated Ford Traff, 6-1, 6-4. Lastly, Eusebio claimed his win, 6-3, 6-1. At the No. 4 singles spot, Samson won in three sets. After losing the second set, 4-6, Samson was able to bounce back with ease and take the last set, 6-0. At the fifth and sixth singles positions, Cameron Daniels ’18 and Jake Roberts ’17 each won their match in straight sets. Daniels defeated William Boyd, 6-3, 6-2, while Roberts won 7-6, 6-3 against Carlos Ferreyros.

In the next match on the schedule, the men travelled up to Clinton, NY to play Hamilton. Unsurprisingly, the Cards swept the doubles matches, taking all three. At the No. 1 doubles position, Zacko Brint  ’16 and Greg Lyon ’17 dispatched their opponents swiftly at 8-1. Liu and Chen earned an 8-3 win over their opponents at the No. 2 position. The last team to play, Rudovsky and Samson, won easily as well with an 8-4 victory. The team then swept their singles matches, 6-0. No players lost more than three games in a given set. At the No. 1 position, Liu crushed his opponent, 6-0, 6-2. At the No. 2 and 3 positions, Chen and Eusebio impressively bagled their opposition. Daniels only lost one game in his defeat of Burke Paxton at the No. 5 position. Samson and Roberts both won their matches in straight-sets, with Samson beating Devin White, 6-1, 6-1 and Roberts winning, 6-0, 6-3.

In the second to last match of the week, on April 17, the team traveled up to Amherst, Mass. to play its longtime rival, No. 14 Amherst. The 11th ranked Cardinals earned a thrilling 5-4 win over the Purple and White. This was the first time the Cardinals have beaten Amherst since the 2002-03 season, and only the second time since 1977-78. The inspiring win came in very dramatic fashion. The Cardinals went down 2-1 after the doubles portion of the competition concluded. The Cards picked up their lone doubles win at the No. 2 position, with Chen and Liu winning in convincing fashion.

The men were able to battle back from their early deficit with a 4-2 singles performance. The Cards topped their opponents in the first four singles spots. Liu defeated Bessette at the No. 1 spot by scores of 6-3 and 7-5. Chen, Eusebio, and Samson all claimed clutch three-set matches. Chen was able to best his opponent, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in a long, grueling match. Eusebio lost the first set, 6-4, but was able to battle back to take the next two sets, 6-3, 6-1. The last win for the Cardinals came from Samson, the first-year phenom. After dropping the first set 6-1, Samson was able to bounce back with wins of 6-1 and 6-1.

“I think this is the first Little Three win for the program in a long time,” Liu said. “So that definitely shows how far we’ve come in the past few years. The win also helps keep our NESCAC hopes alive, and improves our chances of being selected for the NCAA tournament. This win has given us a huge amount of confidence. This was a team that beat us 8-1 last year and 9-0 the year before, I think. Hopefully, we can ride this wave for the rest of the season.”

The No. 11 team was then able to edge out No. 24 Bates, 6-3, in the last match of the week. The Cards went down 2-1 in doubles, but were able to bounce back and win 5-1 in singles play. Wins came from the No. 2 doubles and each singles spot except fifth. Bumped up to the first singles spot for this match, Chen, ranked No. 14 in Division III, came up big in a test against No. 25 Ben Rosen, winning 6-2, 6-3. 

Up next, Wesleyan plays another NESCAC rival, Colby, on Saturday, April 23.