The men’s and women’s tennis teams each suffered defeats this past weekend. The women’s regular season concluded with 4-0 and 6-1 home losses to Lehigh University and Bucknell University on Friday and Saturday, respectively. On the men’s side, a 4-0 sweep by Bucknell in the Patriot League Championship quarterfinal round on Friday ended their season.
For the women, Friday’s rivalry contest saw several close matches that swayed in favor of the Mountain Hawks. In the doubles, juniors Alyssa Perdomo and Alexandra Waldman narrowly lost 6-4, and senior Olivia Boeckman and sophomore Hanna Ganchi fell 6-3 to clinch the point for Lehigh. Perdomo and Ganchi kept it close in their singles matches, each dropping the first set 6-4, but did not finish their second set due to Lehigh already clinching the victory.
Saturday saw slight improvements from the women. Boeckman celebrated her Senior Day with the sole singles win for the Leopards, taking both sets 6-2.
“Liv’s been our captain for two years now, and since she’s the only senior, we’ve all become so close with her,” Bauer said. “It meant a lot to celebrate her and we’re all so proud of what she’s done in the four years here.”
Despite losing their matches, Bauer and Perdomo each put forth resilient efforts. Bauer pushed her opponent to a win-by-two situation in her first set, losing 7-5. After losing her first set, Perdomo battled back with a 6-4 win to force the tiebreaker, where she ultimately fell.
“I ended up playing four, and it was a girl I’ve played before and haven’t done like that well against,” Bauer said. “It was a really close match overall, and I felt like I played pretty well.”
For the men, senior William Wooley and freshman Tyler Mahaffey were defeated 6-1 in their doubles match against Bucknell in the Patriot League quarterfinal, followed by senior Arman Ganchi and junior Nick McKenzie falling 6-4.
“I think we played a lot better in the score reflected kind of across the board in doubles,” Mahaffey said. “Felt like we had some good opportunity there, and Bucknell was really just kind of more consistent, more aggressive with the net than us.”
The Bison bested the Leopards in singles play, as Ganchi, McKenzie and Mahaffey all lost after two sets. Sophomore Derrin Lerner and freshman Owen Studdiford remained knotted in their first sets against their opponents, but neither finished their matches as Bucknell had already closed out the win.
At the conclusion of his freshman season, Mahaffey said he is “focusing on improvement” leading into the fall season.
“The fall is a good opportunity to learn and build your skills for the spring, which is when we’re in Patriot League play,” Mahaffey said. “It’s something that I want to definitely learn from and build on my own next year, and through the rest of my career, to be able to help contribute.”
