It was a tale of two halves for the Colby tennis program over Columbus Day weekend. The men’s team had a strong showing at the Wallach Invitational Tournament at Bates College again this year, with two players reaching the final matches in their respective singles flights. The story was not the same for the women, however, as they finished a disappointing weekend 0-4.
The women started their road swing at Wellesley with a 9-0 loss. Tess Perese ’14 fought hard but came up short in both doubles (with Sally Holmes ’13) and singles.
At Babson, the Mules lost a close contest by a final of 5-4. Perese, Katie Brezinski ’11 and Anna Zieba ’11 all won their singles matches while Perese and Holmes also won their doubles match.
In an 8-1 loss to Wheaton College, Brezinski won her singles match 7-5, 3-6, 10-2.
In their final match of the fall, the women once again came up short against Simmons College in a 6-3 loss. Sarah Wiener ’13 was the highlight of the match, winning her singles match and pairing with Holmes to win doubles.
Coach Wang was disappointed but hopeful about the women’s team’s weekend: “It was unfortunate, with regard to results….I feel we have the talent to do good things, but we have also been set back by some injuries in our lineup. I have good leadership from my captains and seniors, so I feel we will turn things around….I feel the women’s program is hungry for success, without question.”
The Colby men have been consistently strong at the Wallach Invitational Tournament in past years, and this fall was no different. Jason Ottomano ’14 and Matt Carroll ’14 both made the finals in their singles flights before losing to top seeded Skidmore College players 4-6, 6-0, 10-2 and 6-2, 6-3, respectively.
Coach Wang was happy with the success in singles: “I really felt that Jason and Matt could have won their championship matches if they had been a little fresher…these invite formats ask each player to play a lot of matches over a 36-hour period if they go deep into the draw.” Ottomano and Carroll were also paired in the B-flight doubles matches and made it to the semi-finals before losing 8-4 to another top seeded team, this time from Bates.
Coach Wang also commented on the future of the men’s program saying, “The men’s program is on solid ground. I think the foundation is there for the program to take some positive steps forward…it is probably one of the tightest groups of guys that I have had in my time here. There is no question that this intangible factor will be key to winning some tight matches in the future.”