After finishing the fall season with a 3-2 record, good for the highest win total in the NESCAC, the men’s tennis team is poised to erase memories of last year’s 7-10 season and make some serious noise in the NESCAC. The team’s fortunes rest in large part on the shoulders of Matt O’Connell ’09, who went 12-3 last season and established himself as one of the best players in the conference.
O’Connell saw most of his action at the fourth spot, winning six of his eight matches there, though he also played at the third, fifth, and sixth spots; amassing a record of 6-1 in those positions. O’Connell opened 2006 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Coast Guard and later provided the only win for Wesleyan in an 8-1 loss to M.I.T. with a 3-6, 6-4, (10-6) triumph. After losing his first match of the spring, 6-7, 1-6 to Youngstown State in Orlando, O’Connell went on a tear, winning nine of his remaining ten matches. He provided one of only two Wesleyan wins in a 7-2 loss at Bowdoin with a 7-5, 6-3 triumph from the number-six spot and emerged with a 7-6, 6-4 victory over Colby in a 5-2 Wesleyan loss. O’Connell’s other loss of the spring came in a 9-0 whitewashing at the hands of Williams, but he rebounded with a 6-0, 6-1 win in a 7-0 victory over Hamilton in the team’s next match. He added a 6-1, 6-4 win over Connecticut College and provided one of two Wesleyan wins in a 7-2 season-ending defeat at Brandeis with a 6-3, 7-6 victory.
O’Connell picked up in the fall right where he left off in the spring, earning a 6-2, 6-1 win in the second spot to help the Cardinals to a season-opening 7-2 win at Springfield. He moved up to number one for the next match, against M.I.T., though his match was called due to darkness. He remained there for the rest of the fall and, after dropping a three-set match to Bates in a 9-0 Cardinals loss, scored big wins over Coast Guard and Babson as Wesleyan won its final two matches.
Wesleyan faces a tough spring schedule, with visits from Bowdoin, Vassar, and Brandeis in addition to trips to Amherst and Williams. Still, the Cardinals appear ready to ride the momentum of their fall success to their second 10-win season in the past three years. Should the Cardinals accomplish this feat, you can bet that O’Connell will have played a large role.
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