Sports

Wave of ranked opponents dunks men's tennis in California

In print | March 26, 2009

The Swarthmore men’s tennis team narrowly defeated the Christopher Newport University Captains last Sunday in a 5-4 victory. The contest took place on the campus of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. a day after the Garnet fell to the number 15 host Eagles, 7-2.

Swarthmore came into the match ranked twelfth in the region, while Christopher Newport was ranked ninth. Prior to the match, the Captains also held a national ranking of 23.

With four brand new members, the team is, on the one hand, still young. According to Kevin Shaugnessy ’09, however, the “four standout freshmen [Stephen Youngblood ’12, Zak Kelm ’12, Max Bressman ’12 and Eric Legunn ’12] are already making a huge impact in the lineup.”

Specifically, Shaughnessy cited Kelm’s aggressive style of play which makes him one of the “most exciting players to watch.”

Behind the frenzy of newcomers, however, a number of veteran players, including Shaughnessey, form the team’s core, as was evident in some of the performances this weekend.

Against Christopher Newport, the Garnet dominated the singles competititon, winning every match except Youngblood’s at first-singles. Youngblood won the opening set against Newport’s #7 Eric Shulman by a score of 6-4, but ended up falling to the all-star in three sets.

The Garnet’s depth, however, came to light as they were able to snag four of the remaining five singles matches. Shaughnessey won his second-singles match in straight sets, 6-3 and 7-5.

Swarthmore also found singles’ success in Kelm, who triumphed over his opponent at third-singles in 7-5 and 6-3 sets.

J.J. England ’09, one of the team’s solid upperclassmen forces, also emerged victorious, along with teammates Mark Wee ’11 and Mark Greenburg ’09.

In doubles play, Swarthmore was less successful, falling in all three matches. However, having clinched the match with five singles victories, the Garnet emerged victories in a final score of 5-4.
The weekend at Mary Washington marked the first East Cost appearance since the Garnet’s spring break training trip. In preparation for the season, the team journeyed to California for week of training and competition.

“The trip west was designed to expose our students to high-level competition and to gain experience playing outdoors,” said head coach Mike Mullan, currently in his 31st season as head coach at Swarthmore. “As expected, our guys were a little rusty when it came to playing outdoors but improved with each match.”

Indeed, the Garnet stumbled in the face of stiff competition, taking on NCAA Division I University of California-Davis and NCAA Division II Sonoma State University. Swarthmore fell both times, with scores of 7-0 and 8-1, respectively. Swarthmore also took on the 2007 NCAA Divison III National Champion University of California-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, which resulted in a 9-0 loss for the Garnet.

“I believe that beating nationally ninth-ranked Santa Cruz at some point over the next few years is an especially attainable goal,” said Youngblood, citing confidence as a major factor to Swarthmore’s losses on the road.

Mullan points out that such out-of-division and high-level matches are scheduled more for the purpose of readying the Swarthmore hitters for competition back on the East Coast rather than for racking up victories.

In terms of goals for the remainder of the season, Shaughnessy said that winning a Centennial Conference Championship and earning a berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament are definitely both things the team is working toward.

The Garnet fell to Haverford in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference tournament in 2008.
The Swarthmore men’s tennis team will open the 2009 Centennial Conference season when they take on the Green Terror of McDaniel College (1-1) at home on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Disclosure Note: Sports Columnist Josh Abel is a member of the men’s tennis team but had no role in the production of this article.