The first weekend in October was a busy one for the Colby men’s tennis team, playing matches both days this past weekend. Saturday saw the current squad take on a group of alumni. The match format was two rounds of doubles and two rounds of abbreviated singles matches. The winner was determined by the team with the most combined games won.
The alums included current assistant coaches Bryan Brown ’09 and Jim Begin ’67, Nick Rosen-Wachs ’09, Tim Fuhriman ’09, Zack Schuman ’08, Tracy Nale ’07 and Bobby Post ’11 posing as an alum. The full contingent of players from the current squad participated as they secured a victory over the alums in the final round, eventually taking the contest by 17 games.
In the second match of the weekend, the team, led by head coach Doanh Wang, won a strong decision over the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The Sunday contest began at noon and was taken squarely by the Mules in a 9-0 thrashing.
First-years Matt Carroll and Jack Bryant took their first doubles match together in a dual match with an 8-3 victory in the one spot for Colby, while the second and third pairings both cruised to 8-0 victories.
The singles matches were highlighted by hard fought battles at the top two spots. Junior Tom Kimball and first-year Jason Ottomano both took home tough victories over strong opponents in the one and two spots, respectively, and helped lead the Mules to a 6-0 singles sweep of UMass-Boston. Than Moore ’12, Matt Mantikas ’13, Bryant and Carroll all won their singles matches with ease.
Coach Wang had high praise for Kimball following his match. “I was pleased with the way Tommy Kimball competed at the [number one] spot. I have always felt that Tommy had all the shots in his tool box to be a solid player.” Wang was especially pleased with Kimball’s increasing discipline and focus. “One area that Tommy is getting better at is being disciplined during matches and making good decisions, and not leaving his opponents too many openings.”
Coach Wang also addressed the youth of this year’s squad. “We still have a fairly young team. Among the top six singles spots in Sunday’s match, four were occupied by underclassmen… I was pleased with the way the underclassmen played… I think as [the first-years] get more match play, they will come into their own and results will start to happen.”
The team will look to build off this success as they travel to Bates College next weekend for the Wallach Invitational Tournament. The young team will try to remain focused and to continue their winning ways in the final weekend of competition this fall.
The women’s team will also finish their fall season this coming weekend with four matches in the Boston area. On Friday, they will take on the women of Wellesley College before moving on to Babson and Wheaton over the weekend. The Lady Mules will close out their four-match southern swing with a match at Simmons College on Monday.