The men’s tennis team (4-1) continued its successful start to the season with wins over Binghamton University (0-6) and Siena College (2-2) over the weekend. The Bears won both matches with a score of 6-1 at the indoor tennis courts in the Pizzitola Sports Center.
Although Brown was scheduled to play three teams this weekend, blizzard forecasts canceled Saturday’s contest against Fordham University and forced the Binghamton match to be moved up from Saturday to Friday.
“It was great to come away with two wins this weekend,” wrote Head Coach Alex Kasarov in an email to The Herald. “I thought the guys responded well to the challenge with quality execution in some key moments in both doubles and singles.”
Brown earned the doubles point in Friday afternoon’s match against Binghamton with wins by the duo of Ching Lam ’22 and Alan Arocho ’22, as well as Niraj Komatineni ’23 and Roger Chou ’22.5. Singles wins by Lam, Komatineni, Matthew Mu ’23, Brian Chong ’25 and Arocho earned the Bears five of the six possible singles points, securing a 6-1 win.
“It was a pretty good bounce back from the team overall, especially coming off a tough loss against Drexel where we lost 4-3,” Lam said. “I think the team has gotten better throughout every match.”
Brown carried its momentum into Sunday’s game versus Siena, with Lam and Arocho in addition to Komatineni and Chun Lam ’24 comfortably winning their doubles matches to secure the doubles point. The Bears again gained five points after singles wins by Ching Lam, Komatineni, Chou, Mu and Chong to defeat Siena.
“They were definitely a really motivated team to (beat),” Chun Lam said. “We got the doubles point, which is pretty important because we worked a lot on doubles the last few weeks (and) Coach (Kasarov) has really emphasized doubles.”
Although Chun Lam said he was proud of the team’s start to the season, he also said “these are teams we really should beat.”
“Looking on paper, we’re the favorite,” Chun Lam said. “Teams come in, and they’re playing their best tennis.”
Ching Lam agreed that Brown “may be a bit stronger on paper,” but he emphasized the importance of “playing (our) game and coming out strong … no matter who (we are) playing.” The team needs to have “that mentality of just coming out and trying to win every point and win every match,” Ching Lam said.
The Bears arrived on campus in mid-January to gear up for the start of the season. With less than a week before their first match against Quinnipiac University, the team prepared with lots of match play. Ching Lam believes this work, as well as the commitment by both underclassmen and upperclassmen, propelled Brown to its early success.
“The upperclassmen stepped up and have taken up leadership roles on and off the court,” Ching Lam said. “The younger players who haven’t had much of a chance to play college tennis have embraced (it). There’s definitely still a lot to work on, but I think we’re on a good trajectory.”
Kasarov also credited the team as well as the “support staff and leadership within the division that have made it possible to have the opportunity to compete again this year.” All Ivy League winter sports were canceled last year, The Herald previously reported.
“It has been a total team effort,” Kasarov wrote. “Guys have stepped up and delivered when their name has been called. Everyone plays a significant role on our team, and we take pride in our preparation.”
