By Ajan Caneda
Contributing Writer
The men’s tennis team had a successful weekend at the Bloomsburg Fall Classic, finishing 7-1 in doubles and 9-6 in singles over the two days. The team was originally scheduled to play in the Georgetown Invitational, but severe rain in Washington D.C. postponed this tournament. The change didn’t faze the Orange and Blue as they finished with winning records against players from Mary Washington, Scranton, Bloomsburg and Ithaca in both singles and doubles action.
“We didn’t start the weekend as strong as we had hoped, but our players stepped it up on Sunday and competed with a lot more confidence,” Head Coach Rebecca Helt said. “We’re looking to build on one thing at a time, each and every time we take the court, whether it’s practice or competition.”
Many Bison had strong performances on Saturday. Octavio Canibe ’15 continued his undefeated streak by winning his singles match over a Mary Washington player. The dynamic duo of Evan Zimmer ’13 and Gregg Cohenca ’12 kept their record untouched as they beat Ithaca. They won another match against Mary Washington 8-2. Other doubles victories included wins from Josh Katten ’13 and Kelly Morque ’14 and also Greg Maxson ’12 and Chris Tortora ’14.
The Bison improved their record in singles matches, going 7-1 on Sunday. Canibe improved his record to 7-0 in singles matches over the season. Tortora shut out his Bloomsburg opponent in straight sets. The Bison went undefeated in doubles play with three straight victories. Cohenca and Zimmer earned an 8-5 victory over Mary Washington.
“Our team is loaded with talent this year. Everyone returned bigger and better after last spring’s loss to Army. The coaching staff has identified some very specific goals in the areas of mental toughness and handling momentum changes in difficult matches,” Helt said. “Next week’s tournament will be competitive and the matches will give us an opportunity to see how much we have learned in the past few weeks.”
The Orange and Blue look to keep the momentum going at home during the three-day Bison Quad this weekend.