On Friday, the women’s tennis team (11-7 overall, 1-1 Patriot League) beat Wagner College (6-12 overall) by a score of 4-2. The men (7-10 overall, 0-3 Patriot League) dominated Wagner 6-1 Thursday but suffered a 4-0 shutout to the United States Naval Academy (21-12 overall, 2-1 Patriot League) on Saturday.
For the women, freshman Ally Bauer and sophomore Carmen Merkel had especially notable performances, with Merkel outlasting her opponents in doubles 6-3 alongside her partner, freshman Hanna Ganchi. She also triumphed in her singles match, winning 6-1, 6-3.
“I think we did really well against Wagner,” Merkel said. “I think that us being pretty busy, especially over spring break, has a big impact on team dynamics, and also just played a lot into our results.”
The freshman duo of Bauer and Stella Dodd secured a 6-3 addition to the win column. Another noteworthy performance came from sophomore Paraskevi Briegel, as she recorded a win in her singles match in straight sets.
Meanwhile, the men’s team was successful in its Thursday showing against Wagner, taking the doubles point and then only dropping one in singles.
Two days later, the men fell to Navy. Despite the loss, sophomore Sam Gelber praised the team’s work rate.
“We lost four to zero but all the matches were really tight,” Gelber said. “We just came in there trying to play our hardest and make them work for it. I think we did, to some extent.”
Gelber and his partner, freshman Derrin Lerner, emerged victorious in their doubles match with a final score of 6-3. While the Leopards did not have much else to show for in this matchup, Gelber remains confident for the rest of the season.
“Last week was a pretty good momentum shift for us,” Gelber said. “You know, we came off a rough Patriot League start, losing to Army and Holy Cross, but we came back and beat Wagner, which is a team we lost to last year and we beat them pretty, pretty soundly.”
Junior Arman Ganchi mirrored these sentiments.
“The doubles was a strong point, and we had lots of energy coming from on and off the court. We were shocked at how close we played Navy in the doubles point, as we were two points away from getting the point. We know how competitive we can be with the top teams in the league, so we have a lot of confidence going into our next matches,” Ganchi said.
The men will host Patriot League opponent Colgate University (4-12 overall, 1-2 Patriot League) on Saturday, and then Villanova University (4-12 overall) on Sunday. The women will also host Colgate (9-8 overall, 2-1 Patriot League) on Saturday.
