It was the men’s turn this past weekend to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Regional Championships held at the all too familiar Williams College in Williamstown, Mass.. Despite the limited availability of eight indoor courts, the forecast broadcasting torrential rain forced the 64-player singles bracket and 48-team doubles bracket to be played inside. The men were in for a long haul of a weekend, both physically and mentally.
Wes entered the tournament with two top-eight seeds in the singles bracket: Steven Chen ’18 at No. 1 and Mike Liu ’17 at No. 6. Also in singles were No. 9 seed Joachim Samson ’19, Tiago Eusebio ’18, and Jonathan Holtzman ’20. Holtzman lost 6-4, 6-4 in his debut match as a Cardinal to Alberto De Mendiola of Babson College. Eusebio dropped the first set 3-6 to the No. 8 seed Ryan Bunis from Brandeis University. Eusebio battled back to confidently secure the second set 6-2, but couldn’t hold off Bunis in the third, losing the set 3-6. Mirroring his teammate’s vigor, Samson also fought back in the second to split sets 2-6, 7-5, against Jerry Jiang of Bowdoin. However, Jiang outlasted Samson to win the third set 2-6. Both Chen and Liu snagged first-round wins for the Cards, with Chen beating Josh Quijano of Bates 6-2, 6-3 and Liu breezing past Ethan Chen of Tufts 6-1, 6-0. The second round posed more difficult matchups for the Wes seeds, with Liu falling to Eliot Rozovsky of Bowdoin 4-6, 0-6 and Chen getting upset by Hamid Derbani of Middlebury with a 5-7, 3-6 loss.
Chen commented on the surprising turn of events for him and his teammates.
“It was really fun, and this was the first year that every person on the team qualified for either singles or doubles, and a few of us were in both,” he said. “We were really happy that the whole team got to go. It was a tough weekend and we were all really disappointed with the results, but at the same time it was a really good learning experience for us. Every team came out playing really well and some players clearly improved a lot over the summer, so it really motivated us and showed us how much harder we need to work moving forward. At the same time, the difference in almost all the matches came down to just a few points here and there, so we’re definitely in a good spot coming away from this weekend. There’s clearly some things that we need to work on, but we’re excited to get back to training and can’t wait to compete in the MIT Invitational in two weeks and carry everything we learned from this weekend into the offseason and the spring.”
Known for his grit, drive, and incredible work ethic, Liu was not faltered by his loss either.
“I think that the tournament was a great way for us to gauge our strengths and weaknesses,” he said, echoing Chen. “Unfortunately, we found out that we have to do a lot of work between now and the spring season. In order to win a national championship, we need to improve at a faster rate than we are now. Given the drive that I saw in my teammates following our performance, I still believe that we have the potential to reach new heights this spring. With this experience under our belt, we are more motivated than ever to defeat every school on our schedule.”
The rest of the Wes squad competed in the doubles bracket. Seniors Greg Lyon and Jake Roberts teamed up and started the tournament out as the No. 9 doubles seed with a bye in the first round. They beat Albert Go and Tyler Barr from MIT 8-5, but then fell to the No. 5 seed duo Anton Zykov and Josh Marchalik of Amherst 6-8. Chen and Win Smith ’19 paired up and swept past Benjamin Biswas and Ethan Chen of Tufts with an 8-5 win in the first round. The pair then lost in the second round to Alex Taylor and Brian Grodecki of Williams, 6-8. Princeton Carter ’20 got his first victory as a Cardinal with Samson in a thriller tiebreak win over Michael Arguello and Jackson Kogan of Brandeis, clenching the pro-set 7-5. Carter and Samson then matched up against against the No. 4 seed Hamid Derbani and Kyle Schlanger of Middlebury and fell 6-8. Cam Hicks ’17 and captain Cam Daniels ’18 lost in the first round to Luis Cuervo and Aidan McGrory of Bowdoin 3-8.
Lyon reflected on the weekend with a bit of humor and a short anecdote.
“We were starving and ordered Subway while watching matches, and I figured if I ordered a sandwich from the menu it would come with vegetables,” he said. “I got a sandwich with, like, two pieces of meat and just bread on it and the team had a big laugh at my expense.”
On a more serious note, Lyon commented on his work with Roberts.
“Jake and I were the only people to make it to the second day, and we played really well and almost beat Amherst’s number one [doubles] team,” he said. “The team also got a lot closer over the course of the weekend.”
The whole team is ready for an upswing and have been back on the courts grinding away in preparation for the MIT Invitational starting Friday, Oct. 14. This three-day tournament will be the Cards’ last of the fall, and the guys are looking to earn an edge going into the spring.