Men’s tennis opened its short, fall season with an impressive 6-1 victory Saturday afternoon over the Continentals of Hamilton. The women also took on the New Yorkers in an earlier Saturday match, but came up short in a 6-3 loss.
Led by number one seed Max Kates ’06, the men swept all six singles matches. The singles players combined to drop only two sets in six dominating matches.
This was more impressive after the Continentals had scored their only point by winning all three doubles matches over the Cardinals.
“We are a better team physically but traditionally, Hamilton has proved to be strong at doubles,” said Adam Stone ’05. “In doubles it is all about positioning and we weren’t very agressive at the net.”
The longest match of the day was played in the sixth spot, where frosh Pauri Paudian made an impressive comeback after dropping the first set 1-6.
“Pauri stepped in and even with the match in hand, he stepped up and battled back,” said Jeff Basile ’05. “Just shows that the frosh are here to play.”
Ashley Brick ’05 was the lone singles winner for the women’s team, as she came back after dropping the first set playing in the number two position.
The Cards gained two other points in doubles play, again led by Brick teamed with Tiffany Lo ’05 in taking the number one spot. Susannah Ragab ’05 and Victoria Santoro ’07 teamed up to win the second doubles point playing in the number two match.
The two matches served as the first official competitions under the supervision of new tennis coach Ken Alrutz.
“Our new coach is very enthusiastic and he is intent on building a strong program for now and in the future,” Basile said.
The men’s next match is at NESCAC foe Trinity’s home court on Sept. 21. The women travel to Amherst on Sept. 18 to battle the Lord Jeffs.
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