The men’s tennis team took a road trip to Massachusetts last weekend, hoping to continue the momentum of its upward swing from the end of its spring break trip to Florida. Unfortunately, the Yellowjackets were unable to follow through, and the team was defeated in its matches against both Brandeis University and Babson College.
The ‘Jackets took on the Judges of Brandeis on Saturday afternoon, and while freshman Bennett Peterson was a double winner, the rest of the team had trouble notching wins, and UR was defeated, 3-6.
Peterson earned wins in both third singles competition and second doubles play. The singles match proved to be a tough battle, as Peterson dropped the first set, 3-6, then fought back in the second set to bring it to a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3). He proved that he deserved the win, however, in the third set, which he took, 6-4. Peterson then teamed up with fellow freshman Daniel Barbash to defeat the Judges’ No. 2 doubles team in yet another close match. The duos went into a third-set super-tiebreaker until Peterson and Barbash finally pulled away, 9-8 (7-2). The only other win of the day came from sophomore Brian Bowman in the first singles position. After taking the lead, 6-5, in the first set against Brandeis’s Simon Miller, Bowman claimed the victory when his opponent retired midway through.
UR looked to nullify its defeat from Brandeis on Sunday morning when it traveled down the road to Babson to take on the Beavers, but was unable to grab the win, dropping its record to 6-7 overall with a 4-5 loss.
Both Bowman and sophomore Ryan Kovaleski came away with double wins for the day. Bowman came back from a first-set defeat at the No.1 singles spot to get the victory, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, and earn a point for his team. In the second singles position, Kovaleski took his opponent in two sets, 6-4, 7-5. The two paired up at the No. 1 doubles spot and defeated their competitors easily, 8-2.
The final point for the Yellowjackets came from Peterson, who fought out yet another tough match, besting his opponent in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 10-3. Unfortunately for the ‘Jackets, however, they were unable to attain that crucial fifth point for the win and came home with a losing record.
The men continue play this afternoon at home against Rochester Institute of Technology at 4 p.m. They then travel to take on St. Lawrence University on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Philbrick is a member of the class of 2009.
