The men’s tennis team competed at the Lehigh Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, last weekend. They faced Lehigh University, Villanova University and Rider University in the two-day event.
The team finished the weekend 1-3-2 in all of its matches, with its biggest win coming against Villanova in singles on Sunday.
“This weekend was definitely a good result,” freshman Aidan Mahaffey said. “We had some good matches, myself and teammates, we definitely saw some improvements.”
“It was definitely good to face some tough competition,” he continued.
The Leopards started the tournament in singles against Lehigh on Saturday, falling 7-1. Mahaffey, who was playing in the eighth position for the Maroon and White, notched the only win of the session 8-6.
The Maroon and White then faced Villanova in doubles matches, winning the first and fourth matches for the Leopards to go 2-2 against the Wildcats. Senior Arman Ganchi and junior Nick McKenzie teamed up to beat the Villanova first doubles 6-2, and sophomore Derrin Lerner and freshman Owen Studdiford pulled out a 6-3 win in the fourth slot.
The Leopards split their singles matches against Rider, going 4-4 against the Broncs. Ganchi, who played in the third singles position, won his matchup 8-5, and Mahaffey continued to string together wins with an 8-3 win.
“I think we played our singles matches pretty strongly however our doubles matches need to improve for the spring season,” Ganchi wrote in a text.
“I rebounded from losing my doubles to winning my singles by just understanding that each match is an independent event and that I need to give my best effort to each match no matter what,” he continued.
However, the Maroon and White stalled out against Lehigh in doubles matches to start off play on Sunday, dropping all four.
The Leopards continued their strong play against Villanova, winning Sunday singles 5-2. Lerner won a close first match in a tiebreak to lead off. Although Studdiford lost the second match, Ganchi, McKenzie, freshman Tyler Mahaffey and junior Jake Magnusson won the next four matches for the Leopards.
“If it had been a direct match, it would have won based on the results,” Mahaffey said. “So it was definitely a big result for us, they’re a good team and a big athletic school and program, so definitely gives us some confidence knowing that this year we can go and compete and beat those types of teams.”
However, the Maroon and White could not keep the momentum, losing all three doubles matches against Rider to close out the tournament.
“I think definitely a big area for us is doubles,” Mahaffey said, adding that will be “something we’re working on practice a lot.”
The team also lost against Rider in a duel match the previous week.
The Leopards will be back in action on Oct. 12, when they host Franklin and Marshall at 12 p.m.
