Emily Evancho
Contributing Writer
The men’s tennis team had a rough weekend in Pittsburgh as it was defeated by both Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne. Despite the losses, Nick Bybel ’16 and Josh Katten ’13 led the Bison with strong performances in the matches.
The match against Carnegie Mellon was a close one that nearly belonged to the Orange and Blue. Two of the three Bison doubles teams championed in their matches with a 9-8 victory from the team of Bybel and Katten and an 8-6 win from Kelly Morque ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13. The Bison stumbled in the singles matches but still gave successful performances, most notably Bybel’s dual 6-1 victory. Kyle Rosen ’14, Octavio Canibe ’15 and Scott Bernstein ’14 also triumphed in their matches, bringing the final score to a 5-4 loss.
“Our match against Carnegie Mellon was very tight and came down to needing a few more singles wins,” Bernstein said. “Nick Bybel showed great energy and fight in snapping up two victories.”
In the Bison’s second match against Duquesne on Feb. 9, it was Katten who led the herd with straight set victories in his singles match. Katten and the team’s efforts were not enough to seal a win for the match. The Orange and Blue returned home with a 6-1 loss.
“Early spring tournaments are great to let you know as a team what you need to work on. We found some things that need tweaking and we will continue to work and improve. Day by day, we get better,” Aidan Lynch ’14 said.
The Bison will look for signs of improvement when they challenge Niagara and St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. this weekend.