The Washington University tennis teams continued their run of strong play this weekend. The men’s team defeated Rhodes College 6-1 at home while the women’s team took out Wheaton College 6-3 and Albion College 7-2 in matches played in Albion, Michigan.

In the men’s team’s match against Rhodes College, the Bears won at every position except third singles. At first and second singles, neither senior Brian Alvo nor sophomore Ari Rosenthal surrendered a game in straight set wins. Rosenthal cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win while Alvo was leading 6-0, 1-0 when his opponent retired. Sophomore third singles player Zack Fayne split sets 6-4, 6-7 before losing 10-6 in a super-tiebreaker. Sophomore William McMahan, freshman Chris Kuppler and sophomore Eric Borden all won their matches in straight sets at fourth, fifth and sixth singles respectively. In doubles play, the first doubles team of Alvo and Rosenthal continued their impressive games winning streak by scoring an 8-0 victory. McMahan and Fayne won 8-3 at second doubles and Kuppler and sophomore Tim Fisher won 8-2 at third doubles. With the win, the Bears’ third in a row, the team evened its record at 5-5 on the season. The Bears, who have already faced eight ranked opponents, will face another on Tuesday no. two ranked Williams College. While Williams is a formidable opponent, the Bears may be catching the team at an opportune time; Williams lost both its matches over the weekend. Junior team member Dave Weingeist stressed the importance of the doubles point in the upcoming match.

“We’ve been working hard on all aspects of our doubles play and it really showed against Rhodes,” Weingeist said. “The doubles point will be huge against Williams on Tuesday.”

Playing against Albion on Saturday, the women’s team posted an easy win behind victories at all six singles positions. Senior Laura Greenberg won 6-4, 6-3 at first singles. Junior Kacie Cook had a tougher time at second singles, needing three sets to pull out the win 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). At third singles, sophomore Lauren Zwick won handedly 6-0, 6-1. Freshman Erin Fleming, junior Erica Greenberg, and junior Sara Kabakoff all won in straights sets at fourth, fifth and sixth singles respectively. The Bears captured an additional point in doubles with senior Rathi Mani and Zwick teaming for a tough 9-8 win at first doubles. The pairs of Cook and Laura Greenberg at second doubles and junior Becky Rovner and Erica Greenberg at third doubles both lost close matches. The Bears also defeated Wheaton College on Saturday. The two weekend wins gives the Bears a 10-2 record on the season. The team is currently riding a seven-match winning streak.

The women’s team will play Thursday at home against Maryville University at 4p.m.

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