The men’s tennis team recently closed out a disappointing 7-10 season, failing to qualify for the NESCAC Tournament for the third consecutive season. The Cardinals ended their season winning two of three matches with wins over Hamilton and Connecticut College, before dropping their final match of the year 7-2 to Brandeis.
Against Hamilton on April 15, the Cardinals snapped a six-match losing streak by trouncing the Continentals 7-0. Three days later, the Cards beat Conn. College 8-1. The two wins were the only NESCAC victories for the Cardinals all season.
Despite struggling against top teams, the Cards were optimistic going into their final match of the season against Brandeis, a team that had narrowly defeated the Cardinals two years ago by a slim 4-3 margin. However, the top of the Brandeis lineup proved to be too much for the Cards to handle as Brandeis won 7-2, ending the Cardinal’s season on a sour note.
As has been the case all year, poor doubles play at the beginning of the match spelled doom for Wesleyan. Brandeis opened with wins at all three doubles positions with precision serving and volleying.
“Our doubles play was our weak point this season,” said tri-captain Tallen Todorovich ’07. “They were below average, much like Matt O’Connell’s success in spitting game on a Friday night.”
As has been the story all season long, the bottom of the singles lineup carried the Cardinals in the victory column with Mike Frank ’08 powering his way to a 6-0, 6-1 win at the number six singles spot, while Matt O’Connell ’09 recorded a hard fought victory at fourth singles with a 6-3, 7-6 decision.
However, the rest of the Cardinal lineup could not muster together any more wins as Brandeis cruised at the top of the lineup. Todorovich ’07 put together an impressive first set as he matched his opponent Sam Jones ’07 shot for shot, but fell in the end by a 7-5, 6-1 score. The two players got into a heated argument during the second set, but Todorovich was unable to shake his opponent’s concentration.
Tri-captain Jack Rooney ’07 looked as if he was going to have a shot at outlasting his opponent after winning the first set 7-6, but dropped the second set 3-6 and fell in a third set tiebreaker at second singles. At third singles, Paul Gerdes ’09 battled back from a set down to even the match with a 7-5 victory in the second set, but fell to his opponent 4-6 in the final frame, despite several questionable line calls from his opponent. Jaafar Rizvi ’09 was soundly defeated at fifth singles, 1-6, 1-6.
The Brandeis match was a microcosm of the season. All spring, the Cardinals stayed close against some of the top teams in the region, but were unable to pull out key wins that could have swayed the matches in the their favor.
The team lost several heartbreakers to opponents that were just a little bit stronger at the top of the lineup, including a 6-3 loss to Amherst, a tough 7-2 loss against Bowdoin, and a 5-2 loss to Colby.
The Brandeis match was also the last career match for the three senior tri-captains in Todorovich, Rooney, and Vijay Chaudhuri ’07. Todorovich, one of the fastest and most consistent players on the team, played some of the toughest competition in the country, dropping decisions at first singles at the hands of Zach Lerner of Amherst, Ted Haley of Williams, Jones of Brandeis, plus several others.
At second singles, Rooney returned from a debilitating shoulder injury sustained last fall, helping the rest of the Cardinal lineup move down a spot and giving the team more depth at the top of the lineup. Despite his hard hitting groundstrokes and penetrating serve, Rooney fell in several close matches at second singles, including one of the best matches of his career in a three set loss to Bowdoin’s second singles player.
“Rooney had a rough spring,” said Max Schenken ’08. “It must have been the absinthe he downed at Daytona. It made him loco, as my amigos would say in Mexico.”
The strength for the Cards was clearly their ability to win matches at the bottom of the lineup against several squads, including key wins at a select singles positions against Amherst, Bowdoin and Colby, three teams that qualified for the NESCAC Tournament.
One player who stood out for the Cardinals was Matt O’Connell ’09, who had the best season statistically out of any player on the squad. Playing primarily fourth singles throughout the year, O’Connell amassed an outstanding 12-3 record in singles play. His season was highlighted by key wins at fourth singles over Amherst and Bowdoin, two teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. One of the most improved players for the Cardinals, O’Connell’s play almost single handedly kept the Cardinals competitive in several matches.
“I think ‘OC’ was inspired by his encounter with the police in Daytona Beach,” said Todorovich. “Ever since then, he’s been going big for some reason.”
Also sporting winning records in singles were Gerdes and Frank, who along with O’Connell will be depended upon to replace Todorivich and Rooney at the top of the singles lineup. Gerdes compiled a 9-7 record, mostly at second singles, while Frank finished with an 8-7 mark. Also finishing with a .500 record was Rizvi, who finished with six wins and six losses.
Although the team loses Todorovich and Rooney at the top of the singles and doubles lineup, the tennis team has one of the deepest teams in the conference, with players on the bench that are capable of filling starter roles next year.
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