Not even a blizzard can beat the men's tennis team. The Bears, ranked No. 43 in the country, showed off their brawn Sunday with a 7-0 shutout over Stony Brook University. Later, when heavy snow prevented the University of Rhode Island from venturing to the Pizzitola Sports Center, the Bears hit the court anyway for several hours of practice.
The Bears began their domination by sweeping all three doubles matches. Co-captain Phil Charm '06 and Dan Hanegby '07 took the first doubles match 8-5 against Michael Crooks and David Kortum. At second doubles, Eric Thomas '07 and Sam Garland '09 had an 8-3 victory over Jean-Francois Robitaille and Nihal Advani, while the third doubles pair of Chris Lee '09 and Saurabh Kohli '08 finished off Tal Meir and Youssef Fassi-Fehri with a convincing 8-3 win.
"We did a real solid job from the beginning with the doubles point," said Assistant Coach Jamie Gresh. "Lee and Saurabh set the tone for the rest of the match."
Singles play brought six more triumphs for the Bears, four of which came in straight sets. Thomas took a 7-5, 7-5 win over Meir at first singles, and Hanegby had an even easier time at second singles with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Crooks. At third singles, Charm defeated Advani 7-6 (8), 6-3, and Kohli overpowered Fassi-Fehri 6-4, 6-2 at fifth singles.
"The guys' energy was really high," Gresh said. "They were playing at a high level."
Playing at a high level was certainly a must at fourth and sixth singles, as these matches were determined in three sets. After narrowly dropping his first set 6-7 at fourth singles, Basu Ratnam '09 rallied in the next two sets for resounding scores of 6-2 and 6-2 to take the match from Robitaille.
"I was nervous because this was one of my first starts," Ratnam said. "But I just had to go for my first serves and stay steady, and the second and third sets were pretty easy."
At sixth singles, co-captain Luke Tedaldi '06 won his first set against Kortum 7-6 but dropped the second set 2-6. Then, in the third set breaker, he fought off an incredible six match points before finally taking the breaker 11-9.
"I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't playing very well throughout the match," Tedaldi said. "At the beginning of the breaker, I wasn't really into it."
But with encouragement from his teammates, Tedaldi was able to pull through with the win. "Everyone else finished their matches before me, and they got behind me and gave me their energy," Tedaldi said. "They really supported me. I think it was more of a team win."
Overall, Gresh was extremely pleased with the team's performance against Stony Brook. "The guys served well and dictated play," Gresh said. "They were able to play aggressively and control the tempo of the match."
The team was eager to compete in the afternoon, but when the match against URI was canceled, the Bears decided to remain indoors anyway. This was no hibernation - instead, the Bears continued practicing until 6 p.m. "We haven't seen the outside world since about 8 this morning," Gresh joked during the practice session.
Gresh said that the players must focus on improving their transitions from the baseline to the net. "We need to work on our approach shots and first volleys," he said.
The team is hoping its hard work pays off against Virginia Tech on Sunday and Lafayette College and Marist College in a doubleheader Monday.
