This weekend, the Amherst men’s tennis team continued its upward swing at the annual MIT invitational. The invitational featured top rated talent from the region, including Boston University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University, and MIT.

The invitational was structured on an individual basis as more of a showcase for the top singles and doubles players in the region to play against one another.

Despite the non-team style of the tournament, Amherst still managed to prove themselves as one of the strongest teams, particularly in doubles action. Amherst won 10 of its 21 singles matches. Four Jeffs posted double wins for Amherst throughout the course of the tournament, two of which were first years. Both Zach Bessette ’19 and Justin Sun ’19 trounced their opponents from Boston University and MIT. The team is thrilled to see the underclassmen stepping up against such top-tiered opponents.

In doubles action, Amherst won an impressive eight of its 12 matches. Again, the first years provided an added spark as Cameron Raglin ’19, Justin Sun ’19, Zach Bessette ’19 and Jesse Levitin ’19 each helped their partners win two consecutive matches.

Next weekend, the focus will again individual rather than team. The Jeffs will split up, sending half of the squad to Maine for the Wallach Invitational at Bates and half of the squad to Dartmouth for the Dartmouth Invitational. The Wallach Invitational will feature challenging NESCAC opponents including Bowdoin, Colby, Tufts, Middlebury, and Bates. Williams will be attending the Dartmouth Invitational. The weekend promises to offer a good read on where Amherst stands in the NESCAC this year.

“Even though we’re splitting up, we’re excited to cover all our bases this weekend,” senior Ben Fife said.Facing multiple NESCAC opponents will be great for our team and especially our freshmen who need to get some good NESCAC experience under their belts before the spring season.”