UR Men’s Tennis (URMT) showed its mettle against elite competition on Saturday at the Goergen Athletic Center. The Yellowjackets (2–2) won three team points against Division I Colgate (3–0).
They had the edge over the Raiders in doubles play, emerging from that phase with a 2–1 lead. Junior Aaron Mevorach and sophomore Masaru Fujimaki endured in the opening match, 8–7 (7–2) over Bobby Alter and Noah Rosenblat.
After Colgate responded in the second match to tie up the score, freshmen Sajah Somani and Tanmay Thakkar posted an 8–6 versus Dean Koman and Jacob Daugherty Win to regain the lead.
The Raiders opened singles play with consecutive points, as Rosenblat defeated Mevorach 6–2, 6–3, and Jake Hirschberg won 6–3, 6–2 over Andrew Nunno. The ‘Jackets earned their lone singles victory of the day, as junior Sam Leeman won against Alter in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3, knotting up the overall score at three.
Afterward, the visitors took the final three points. Daugherty, Alec Dardis, and Win Reynolds defeated Fujimaki, Yifan Shen, and Somani, with Fujimaki’s match being decided by a third set.
URMT had to be encouraged by their showing, despite the loss. Taking three points and four sets against Division I competition is no small feat, and will give the team valuable experience when facing contenders going forward. They also managed three points against Division II Roberts Wesleyan in September, so there is a trend of the team rising to the occasion against tough matchups.
UR Women’s Tennis (URWT) also played Colgate (2–2) closely on Saturday, despite what the final score would indicate. Though they didn’t win a team point, the ‘Jackets (0–1) took three of six singles matches to a third set.
In doubles play, Colgate’s Lauren Hyland and Hannah Fleckenstein prevailed over freshman Sravya Gudipudi and sophomore Camila Garcia, 8–6. Senior Lauren Zickar and sophomore Alex Wolkoff fell to Jordan Williams and Kelly Klein by the same score.
In the final doubles match, senior Darby McCall and freshman Abbey Reinhart narrowly lost, 8–7, to Kristie Woodbury and Lauren O’Brien.
Singles play opened as Zickar fell, 6–0, 6–1, to Williams. In the next match, Garcia was edged out 7–6 (7–5), 6–3.
Extended sets were common for URWT on Saturday. Wolkoff took Colgate’s O’Brien to three sets, winning the first, and losing the second on a tiebreaker. She eventually fell by a final score of 4–6, 7–6 (7–3), 6–4.
Reinhart played an even longer match against Klein. The final score shows a battle of endurance, which Reinhart eventually lost by a score of 6–7 (5–7), 7–6 (7–5), 10–7.
To put things in perspective, the match consisted of 65 games. An average match with the same scoring rules might consist of 15-20 games.
In the other two singles matches, Gudipudi battled back from a 6–0 first set to force a third set before falling 6–0, 5–7, 6–4 against Hyland, while McCall lost 8–4 to Brittin.
Overall, both UR Tennis teams exhibited a high level of competitiveness against a team from a tougher Division. Only URMT has played against Division III so far this season, and they have yet to surrender a team point, winning both 9–0. If URMT and URWT play like on Saturday for the entire season, they will stand out as contenders.
URMT played Ithaca on Sunday and will travel to face Vassar next Saturday. URWT, meanwhile, will continue their season at RPI on Sunday.
