<< Front page Sports February 27, 2004

Men’s tennis starts season with 7-0 victory

Tennis team shuts out Malone College at home

By Ian Mark

The men’s tennis team opened the season with a smashing victory over visiting Malone College. The Yeomen won all six singles matches and three doubles matches, all in straight sets.

The team hopes this match versus Malone will set a winning standard for the entire season.

“I think we all came to play on Saturday and did well to start the season on a strong note,” junior Mark Knee said.

Coach Don Hunsinger introduced seniors Jamie Frankel and Marian Bocek, juniors Nick Ogren, Knee and Ananya Balaram and sophomore James Rosenheim into the lineup as the six singles players.

Frankel, Knee, Ogren and Rosenheim all pulled double duty as they also played doubles. Frankel and sophomore Dave Cotter formed the number one doubles team, Knee and Ogren were the second doubles team and Rosenheim and first-year Art Zeyda rounded out the number three doubles team.

Although the first match of the season proved to be a slaughter on the scoreboard, the team remains focused and hungry for their upcoming opponents. From now until March 7, the team faces a grueling schedule with five matches in just over a week.

“This stretch will measure the strength and stamina of this team and will be a good indicator of how far we have really come from last season,” said an anxious Knee after a hard day of practice earlier this week. “I can’t wait to play Ohio Wesleyan.”

Cotter looks forward to the difficult road ahead. “We couldn’t really showcase how good we are this season. This weekend should be much better since we’re going to play Ohio [Wesleyan], who we really don’t like and who will challenge us somewhat,” Cotter said.

After tying for seventh place last season in the North Coast Athletic Conference, the team is optimistic about the current season.

“The team is much improved this year,” Cotter said. “We’ve all improved tremendously individually and our new players have added to the competition within the team for spots. This season should be a very good year for us.”

The Yeomen have two home matches this weekend. This Saturday, Feb. 28, Otterbein College visits the Heisman Fieldhouse at noon. The following day, the men’s tennis team will look for support as they take on Ohio Wesleyan at 1 p.m. at home.


 
 
   

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