The Colby men’s tennis team took to the courts this past weekend to participate in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s New England Region Championships at Williams College. Two double pairings played for the Mules. Sophomores Jack Bryant and Matt Carroll joined forces on one pair, and senior tri-captains Robert Yee and Tom Kimball made up the other tandem. Both Carroll and Kimball also played in the singles tournament.

Yee and Kimball won their first round match 8-5 versus a duo from Nichols College, but fell to Andrew Schiener and Chris Dale of the defending national champion, Amherst College.

Kimball faced a tough opponent from Amherst in the first round of the singles bracket, losing 6-3, 6-0.

Meanwhile, the sophomore duo of Bryant and Carroll won their match 8-6 over a pair from Bates and then took a walkover victory in the second round due to an injury to Amherst’s Wes Waterman. This advanced the team to the quarterfinals, where they faced and ultimately were defeated by Alec Parower and Derrick Angle of Middlebury, 8-3.

Carroll had a better day than Kimball in the singles bracket, achieving victory over a Coast Guard Academy player 6-2, 6-2 in the first round, before losing to third-seeded Anson McCook of Trinity College in the second round.

Amherst’s Joey Fritz won the singles draw with a win over Williams’ Matt Micheli. Fritz was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. Another tennis player you may know was also a five-star recruit: Jack Sock, who lost to Andy Roddick in the 2011 U.S. Open. Williams’ Bryan Chow and Trey Meyer defeated teammates Micheli and Felix Sun to take the doubles crown.

Overall, it was not a bad showing for the Mules, who battled some tough competition in their first contests since last spring.

Colby will play next over Fall Break as the team travels to upstate New York to face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hobart College, Ithaca College and Oneonta State University. The two weeks of practice should help the Mules prepare for their opponents and improve on their performance going into the final competition of the fall season.