The men’s and women’s tennis teams each played a pair of meets this past weekend. The men suffered a 6-1 loss on Saturday to St. Thomas Aquinas College, while the women lost 7-0 against Vassar College. Both teams lost 4-1 to Marist College on Sunday.
For the men, the Leopards struggled to find their footing on Saturday, as the Maroon and White dropped five of their six singles matches. Sophomore Derrin Lerner picked up the lone singles victory on the outing 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (3).
Doubles saw even less success, as the Maroon and White lost all three of their doubles matches that finished.
Senior Arman Ganchi said that the team is focusing on “executing the shots that we should be making.”
“I think we lose a lot of these close margins,” Ganchi said. “It comes down to these easier routine balls that we get a little nervous over.”
On Sunday against Marist, the Maroon and White men again dropped five of their six singles matches, with Ganchi picking up the lone win this time 6-4, 6-4.
“I think the first match was a little rough,” Ganchi said. “Everyone was not playing their best. The second match was definitely an improvement, definitely a lot of close matches across the board.”
Although Ganchi and junior Nick McKenzie were on track to pick up a doubles victory against Marist, the match was abandoned as Marist secured wins in the other two doubles matches, making it a 0-2 weekend for the men.
The women followed similarly as the Leopards dropped all of their singles and doubles matches against Vassar.
Sophomore Ally Bauer noted that the team competed in the absence of juniors Alyssa Perdomo and Carmen Merkel, and is looking to come along as the season progresses.
“They were our first matches of the season,” Bauer said. “There’s probably ways we can improve, and we were out two of our starting players. We didn’t have great results but played well and just are looking to get better.”
On Sunday against Marist, junior Alexandra Waldman secured a singles win for the Leopards 6-2, 6-4, and the doubles team of sophomore Hanna Ganchi and senior Olivia Boeckman earned a doubles victory 6-2.
“We definitely played better on Sunday, and I think Sunday was even a stronger team,” Bauer said. “We were able to come out with at least one win. I think we all played better too, so there was improvement, but there’s still more to be done.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams return to action this weekend as they take on Duquesne University on Saturday and Saint Francis University on Sunday.
“Last year we didn’t have a great match against St. Francis, so we’ve been really waiting for that match all year now,” Bauer said. “We’re really hoping for some better results there, and we’re all ready to play that match and ready to put a better foot forward than we did last year.”
