The men’s tennis team fell to Little Three rival Amherst this weekend, in a match that can be best described not by looking at the overall score. While the team lost 5-2, the tables could have just as easily been reversed, as the Cards put forth a solid effort.
To lose to such a hated rival is a difficult thing, but Wesleyan had no time to sit around and lick their wounds. The following day, Wheaton College strolled onto the Wesleyan campus looking to take advantage of the Cardinals wounded psyche. Discouraged but not without hope, Wesleyan battled back against Wheaton and picked up a hard fought 5-2 victory.
“After Saturday’s loss to Amherst, everyone was a little disappointed,” said co-captain Dan Yeoman. “But just getting out there today [Sunday] and picking up a win left a good feeling on the weekend.”
It was a weekend that was to have ill-fated beginnings. Looking to duplicate last year’s victory against the Lord Jeffs, the men started strong. Led by the partnerships of Adam Stone ’05 and Tallen Todorovich ’07 and Max Kates ’06 and Jack Rooney ’07, the men were able to pick up the doubles point. With momentum seemingly in hand, the Cardinals looked poised to strike down the Jeffs. Unfortunately, Amherst had a few surprises left for the Cards.
“We started out really strong getting the doubles point by winning two out of the three games,” Yeoman said. “They were just really deep in singles. The matches were close, but it was a tough loss.”
Todorovich was the team’s best weapon as he was able to prevent Amherst from making a clean sweep of the singles matches. He won his singles match by a 7-6, 7-6 score.
“This weekend, even though we lost to Amherst was really fun,” said Kates. “It was really interesting facing Amherst. They had crisp uniforms, gelled back hair, all the characteristics of a preppy team. Our team on the other hand didn’t matching uniforms or anything. Both teams fit the stereotypes of their school quite well.
After such a disappointing defeat, it would be easy to assume that the Cardinals would come out apathetically against Wheaton. A slow start didn’t help improve the spirits of the squad.
”Although we eventually won the match, we started out poorly, losing the doubles point,“ Yeoman said. ”But we really came through as a team in the singles matches. That was where we proved our worth.“
Todorovich once again was the singles star, as he won his match easily, 6-1, 6-1. Fortunately for the Cardinals, he was not alone on this day. Strong performances by Kates, Evan Rhodes ’05, Mike Roguly ’05 and co-captain Ari Levin ’04 enable the Redbirds to soar to victory.
”Up and down the lineup, everyone came through today and got the job done,“ Yeoman said. ”Max Kates played especially well considering he was up against someone who was mentally insane.“
Next weekend will prove vital for Wesleyan as they attempt to improve their 7-6 record. A doubleheader on Saturday against University of Rochester and NYU will prove much in terms of this team’s chances for success later on in league competition.
”This weekend we play two solid teams,“ Kates said. ”Playing a doubleheader is going to be difficult, but the other teams are doing it as well, so no team will be at a disadvantage.“
”We have a tough end of the season coming up,“ Yeoman said. ”The two matches on Saturday will be difficult because we are playing good teams and we haven’t played two matches in one day before. After that, we have league opponents, who are always strong.“
The dual match on Saturday is at home, with the first ball being served at 10:30 a.m.
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