Sports

Men’s tennis has sunny start to season in Orlando, FL

By Yoshi Hill '16

April 4, 2013

At the start of Spring Break, the Hamilton men’s tennis team triumphed against the Rochester Institute of Technology 7-2. They recovered from their difficult loss on March 9 to third ranked Williams College. Senior captain John Franzel breezed through his singles match without even losing a game and won his doubles match alongside James Oliver ’15 with a final score of  9-7. The addition of Oliver, a transfer from Lafayette, has significantly strengthened the team. Oliver anchors the second singles spot behind Franzel, constituting a formidable 1-2 combination which can contend in the highly competitive NESCAC. Third doubles, represented by Ian Antonoff ’16 and Buck Reynolds ’15, soundly defeated their opponents 8-4.

The Hamilton men’s tennis team enjoyed a successful spring break trip to Orlando, Florida from March 23 to March 28. The trip presented the perfect opportunity for the team’s healthy mix of seniors and newcomers to learn from each other. The team welcomed three first-years, Austin Lokre, Ian Antonoff and Benjamin Stern, all of whom are capable of having an influence on the success of this season. The team emerged victorious in all three matchups against D-III teams. They fiercely contested the Division I University of Missouri - Kansas City but were bested in the end.

Jordan Petit ’13 had an especially fruitful spring training; he won the majority of his singles and doubles matches. Sophomore Matt Billet also showed his value to the team since recovering from a knee injury that forced him to miss the team’s matches against Williams and R.I.T. He was in dominant form and cruised through most of his singles matches. Senior Kolya Kerz described the spring training trip as a “success and we showed that we can not only compete on the D-III level but also challenge D-I schools.” The trip helped the entire group grow, and Kerz added that the team “hopes to carry our momentum and accomplish our ultimate goal of reaching the NESCAC playoffs.”

Preserving the momentum from their spring training trip in Orlando, the Continentals narrowly succumbed to a robust Rensselaer team 5-4 at the Margaret Bundy Field House in a non-conference match. Oliver, Antonoff and Stern, all won their singles matches in an efficient manner, while Reynolds  and Billet took control of their doubles match with a final score of 8-3. The rest of the matches were all close, but Rensselaer pulled through at the very end with Hamilton pushing them to the brink.

The Continentals suffered a tough loss at home against Colgate 7-1 on April 2 at the Grey Tennis Courts. This weekend, Hamilton will travel to Colby and Tufts. Success on this road trip will be vital for the team’s hopes to make the NESCAC playoffs, in which only the top six teams in the conference vie for the crown.

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