The men?s tennis team split its matches against two of the top 25 teams in the country this weekend.
In Friday afternoon?s match against the No. 22 ranked College of New Jersey, the team sought to avenge a 7-0 loss it suffered last season.
While they played a very tough match, UR eventually lost 4-3.
The deciding factor was the doubles point, which has been a weakness for the team all season. The Yellowjackets? top singles player, freshman Colin Ryan, took the No. 13 ranked singles player in the country to three sets, but ended up losing in a tight match, 5-7, 6-1, 0-6.
New Jersey and UR were evenly matched, and the match could have gone either way. UR once again proved how deep it is in the lineup. The fourth, fifth and fifth seeded singles all managed to outmatch their opponents.
Junior Anton Orlin beat New Jersey?s Matt Tall man 7-5, 6-1 while junior Aaron Arfman beat Steve Gachko by a score of 6-0, 6-4. Junior Brad Krauz also came away with a win over Bryan Hanley in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Sunday afternoon?s match was a revenge match for the men. After the disappointing loss Friday, the men were hungry for a win as they played the No. 23 ranked team in the country, Kenyon College.
Everyone on the UR team came out to play and proved that they were able to put Friday?s disappointing match aside as they easily defeated Kenyon, 5-2.
The Yellowjackets won every singles match except for the No. 4 position. Arfman won his doubles match with his partner freshman Nithin Raikar. He also won his second singles match of the weekend, shutting out his opponent 6-0 in the second set. This was easily the team?s biggest victory of the season.
?It was a big win for us because we confirmed that we can play with nationally ranked teams,? junior Koh Kiuchi said.
This will be important for the team as they face the No. 11 team, Trinity College, and 18th ranked Swarthmore College next weekend.
When asked about the team?s chances for an entry in Div III national tour-nament at the end of this season, Ryan was more than hopeful that the Yellowjackets will step up.
?We still have a tough schedule ahead of us with some ranked teams,? Ryan said. ?Even though we had a disappointing loss to College of New Jersey, I think we proved that we are a contender for a spot to go to nationals.?
