The men’s tennis team continued to play through its fall schedule last weekend, traveling to Brown Univ. to play the second of a series of tournaments in preparation for the spring season. The nine players who took the trip struggled a bit as a whole against a field of Div. I programs, but there were a few bright spots as well.

Singles play proved especially rough for the Jeffs, as only Mark Kahan ’13 and Sean Rodriguez ’15 won their first round matches on Friday. Even Kahan teetered close to the brink of a loss, dropping his first set but bouncing back to dominate his opponent in the final two frames to close out the match.

Rodriguez, on the other hand, played his way through his draw with relative ease, reaching the finals against a Brown University Bear. While Rodriguez had played very well in his first two contests, he fell in a close 4-6, 6-7 final.
The Jeffs fared better in doubles play, however, over the course of the weekend, with three of their four doubles team winning their first matches.

In the ‘A’ flight, Kahan and Robby Sorrel ’12 faltered after their opening win to drop their next two matches, and the duo of Rodriguez and Wes Waterman ’12 also suffered a second-round loss.

Yet the best result came from the team of Justin Hendrix ’14 and Andrew Jung ’12, who advanced to the finals of their doubles draw with strong net play and solid returns of serve. In the final, Hendrix and Jung were two points away from victory before falling in a tiebreaker to lose the pro-set 8-9.

While the Div. I competition at Brown was fierce, the Jeffs were disappointed in their play nevertheless and will look to rebound this week at the ITA Regional Championships at Williams. As the defending national champion in Div. III, Amherst will look to reassert its dominance over its rivals with a strong showing.