This past weekend the Colby men’s tennis team got itself back on track after a couple of tough losses. The Mules took a 7-2 victory over Hamilton College. The team came out strong after its long trip to upstate New York and swept the doubles matches to jump out to an early lead. Coach Doanh Wang was pleased with how the men came out. “The distance to Hamilton can be a disadvantage if we let it be the case. We did a good job preparing ourselves. The trip to Hamilton is a long one, about eight hours.”

First-years Matt Carroll and Jack Bryant led the way with a victory in the first doubles slot in addition to contributing victories in the third and fourth singles spots, respectively. Fellow first-years Luke Martin and Jason Ottomano won a close match at the number two slot in doubles and Rob Yee ’12 and Sam Bachelder ’14 took care of business in the third doubles slot.

“We came out strong in doubles; the one and three teams took care of their matches in routine fashion. Our number two had a little tougher time….We ended up closing out in a tiebreaker. The three doubles wins gave us good momentum going into singles,” said Coach Wang.

Ottomano lost a very close match at the number one singles spot in three sets (4-6, 6-1, 6-4) and Than Moore ’12 lost at the number two spot but Colby was able to sweep the remaining matches with wins from Bachelder and Matt Mantikas ’13. Wang was disappointed with Ottomano’s loss, but hopeful for the future.

“I was really pulling for Jason to win this match. It is a match he can win and had opportunities to do it. I think talent-wise, Jason and his opponent were equal. But his opponent had one extra year of experience playing at the top spot. I think that made the difference. Jason is learning a lot with each match. The experience he is gaining this season will be a big positive for the program in the future, and the same can be said for all the guys in the lineup.”

Overall, the Mules finished with a strong victory over the Continentals and are now looking to close out the season in a similar fashion when nationally 14th-ranked arch-rival Bowdoin College visits Mayflower Hill this Saturday. “We have one week to prepare for our final match next Saturday. I anticipate the guys will bring a lot of positive energy to practices, and I am looking forward to a solid week of work,” commented Wang.