The No. 17 Washington University men’s tennis team traveled to Fredericksburg, Va., on Feb. 25-26 to kick off its spring season. Up against stiff competition in No. 12 Washington and Lee University and No. 11 University of Mary Washington, the Bears succeeded, upending both teams.
The squad came out to a blistering start and smoked Washington and Lee 6-1.
“Our matches last weekend were good indicators of the potential of our team,” said senior captain Ari Rosenthal.ÿ”Everyone contributed, but the freshman really stepped up.ÿChris [Hoeland] played some nasty doubles and Charlie [Cutter] and Trevis [Bowman] each clinched a match. Seeing their talent unfold in a duel match has given us confidence.”
In singles play, the University had wins from Cutler, sophomore Charlie Howard, senior William McMahan, senior Zack Fayne and Bowman. In doubles, the Bears swept Washington and Lee. Picking up wins from teams Rosenthal/Cutler, Hoeland/Fayne and McMahan/Howard, the doubles play was stellar.
The following day, the Bears faced a tougher match, but produced the same result in the end. A closely fought match gave the Bears a 4-3 win over No. 11 Mary Washington. In singles, the teams split 3-3 with wins coming from Cutler, Fayne, and Bowman. In doubles, the Bears took the final point in a close 2-1 doubles victory with wins coming from the duos of Fayne/Hoeland and Howard/McMahan.
“Virginia was a great start to our season.ÿIt was our first real test and coming out of the weekend with two wins was huge for us.ÿWe proved that we can compete with any team in the country,” said Fayne.
The team next travels to sunny California over spring break to play four tough matches: Carnegie Mellon University, Colorado College, Claremont-Mudd-Scipps Colleges, and University of the Redlands.
“Hopefully, we can ride the momentum into Cali, and play better than we
have the past few years,” said Rosenthal.
“I was especially impressed with the play of our freshmen over the weekend.ÿ Trevis dug deep to clinch the win against Washington and Lee and Cutler really lived up to the hype, cruising through both of his singles matches, including the decidingÿvictoryÿagainst Mary Washington. Chris Hoeland was also impressive in doubles play, going undefeated on the weekend,” added Fayne.
The team has a full season ahead with signs of great promise. If the team can continue to string together wins like these, an NCAA and University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship bid could be in the works.
“This team is as talented as any I’ve been a part of at Wash U. Losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year was a little disappointing, but I fully expect us to be back in the final eight this year.ÿWith the talent of our freshmen and the experience of our seniors, I think we have the balance needed to win at the top level,” said Fayne.
“The dynamic of the team this year has been better than ever and I think
the balance of talent and experience makes us dangerous,” added Rosenthal.