Category: Tennis

Lauren Boone

Staff Writer

The men’s tennis team faced three tough competitors this past week, with two road matchups last weekend against George Mason and Navy and a home match against Mount St. Mary’s on March 27. After the matches, the Orange and Blue improved their overall season record to 8-5 with a 4-3 victory over George Mason, a 5-2 loss to Navy and a 5-2 win over Mount St. Mary’s.

The Bison clinched the win over George Mason on March 22 thanks to the doubles team of Octavio Canibe ’15 and Aidan Lynch ’14. They pulled out a 9-7 win, claiming the doubles point that won the overall match.

The meeting began with singles matches, with Evan Zimmer ’13, Josh Katten ’13 and Nick Bybel ’16 all claiming victories for the Bison. At first, the Bison led the singles matches with three points to the Patriots’ sole point, but George Mason managed to gather a couple of points to tie up the score leading into the doubles play.

The Patriots kept the momentum leading into doubles. On the No. 2 court, they defeated Kelly Morque ’13 and Zimmer 8-3. But the Bison were able to claim the last two doubles matches to win the overall match. At No. 1 doubles, Bybel and Katten won with a score of 8-6. Finally, the Orange and Blue claimed the winning point at No. 3 doubles (9-7).

“George Mason was a pretty crazy match. We played in 40 degree weather and we’re in a battle with the wind as much as we were our opponents. Although it came down to the doubles point, this was an exciting win for our team. Getting a win under the unusual circumstances in a true battle is great and helps motivate our team. It was exciting being the last match on with everything coming down to Octavio [Canibe] and I winning or losing. I’m glad we came out on top,” Lynch said.

Unfortunately, the Bison were not able to the take the momentum from the George Mason win into their first Patriot League match of the season against Navy. Bybel recorded a singles victory and partnered with Katten for an 8-6 doubles victory. Kyle Rosen ’14 recorded the only other singles win with a score of 6-2, 6-3. Bybel’s singles win against Navy tied him for most singles victories this season on the team, but it was not enough as the Bison remained winless in 37 tries against Navy.

Against Mount St. Mary’s, Zimmer proved to be the hero by securing the match-winning point with victories in both singles and doubles, with Lynch as his partner. Bybel and Katten also won their doubles match, while Bybel, Canibe and Morque recorded singles wins.

The next game for the men’s tennis team will be on the road against Saint Joseph’s on April 2.

Emily Evancho

Writer

The men’s tennis team had a split outcome of matches this past weekend with a 6-1 victory over Hofstra and a 7-0 defeat at the hands of nationally-ranked Princeton University.

“It was a good weekend for us. We got out ahead of Hofstra and never looked back. We are starting to put things together piece by piece and it is exciting to see. Princeton is a tough costumer but helped us realize some important things to work on. Overall it was a successful weekend,” Aidan Lynch ’14 said.

In the match against Hofstra, the Bison cleanly collected victories in the three doubles matches. Kelly Morque ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13 lost one game to Hofstra, but roped in an 8-1 victory. The team of Nick Bybel ’16 and Josh Katten ’13 also succeeded with an 8-2 win, followed closely by Octavio Canibe ’15 and Lynch with an 8-6 victory. The Orange and Blue settled their triumph over Hofstra with five victories in singles, wrapping up the Bison’s victory with Katten’s 6-4, 6-1 win.

The Bison couldn’t secure the same success at Princeton on Feb. 24, even though the three doubles matches came close to being in the Bison’s favor. The Orange and Blue struggled the most in singles matches. The closest match was played by Kyle Rosen ’14 in the No. 6 position and was ended in a 10-5 tie breaker that went Princeton’s way.

“Although on paper the Princeton match wasn’t a successful outing for us, there were definitely positives we can build on and use to our advantage once Patriot League matches start,” Morque said.

The Bison will play again on March 11 and 12 with their next two matches in Puerto Rico against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras.

Emily Evancho

Contributing Writer

The men’s tennis team returned to its winning ways last weekend, defeating Niagara and St. Bonaventure 5-2 in two road matches. Kyle Rosen ’14 secured the team’s victories for both matches, bringing the Bison’s record for the season to 3-2.

Against Niagara, the Orange and Blue struggled in doubles matches, only securing an 8-4 win from the team of Octavio Canibe ’15 and Aidan Lynch ’14. For the singles matches, Nick Bybel ’16 succeeded with a dual victory and Kelly Morque ’13 and Josh Katten ’13 both split their opening sets, but were still successful with twin 6-1 final sets. Rosen’s 6-0, 6-4 win in his singles match brought the overall score to a 4-3 victory over Niagara.

“I am happy that we were able to pull out a tough victory,” Rosen said. “A close win like this always gives us confidence moving forward.”

The Bison wasted no time against St. Bonaventure, sweeping away doubles points early in the match. The team of Morque and Evan Zimmer ’13 took control with an 8-6 victory, and Canibe and Lynch cleaned up the doubles matches with an 8-3 win. In singles play, both Bybel and Zimmer finished their matches with two wins each. Rosen won two tough sets, each bringing 7-5 wins, to settle the score at 5-2 over St. Bonaventure.

“I was very impressed with everyone’s ability to stay positive during tough moments,” Zimmer said. “We lost to both Niagara and St. Bonaventure last year, so it felt great to pull both out this year. I hope we can bring the same intensity and focus for this weekend’s matches against Hofstra and Princeton.”

The Bison will return to the court when they challenge Hofstra and Princeton on the road this weekend.

 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.

 Emily Evancho

Contributing Writer

The men’s tennis team shook off its winter coats and delivered a 5-2 victory in its first game on Feb. 2 against Saint Francis (Pa.). The Orange and Blue were especially triumphant in doubles play with a sweep in all three doubles matches.

The Bison effortlessly handled St. Francis’s doubles teams with the closest match being an 8-3 win by Nick Bybel ’16 and Josh Katten ’13. The other two doubles teams of Kelly Morque ’13/Evan Zimmer ’13 and Aiden Lynch ’14/Chris Tortora ’14 also defeated their Saint Francis opponents with an 8-2 win each.

“Everyone had high energy from the start of doubles, and that energy carried on into the singles matches,” Tortora said.

Singles weren’t as easy for the Bison as Zimmer and Katten struggled early on in their matches. Nonetheless, both demonstrated determination when they fought back to achieve dual victories for each match. Bybel triumphed easily in his singles match, winning 6-2, 6-0.

“We’re always glad with grabbing the first victory of the season, but aim to stay balanced and focused on our goals at the end of the season at the Patriot Leagues. It’s going to be a fun year,” Scott Bernstein ’14 said.

The Bison play their next pair of matches this weekend in Pittsburgh against Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne.

Billy Tyler
Contributing Writer

The men’s tennis team wrapped up its fall season last weekend at the ITA Regionals in Charlottesville, Va. at the University of Virginia. The Bison played well, but were winless in their three matches against some of the best competition in the nation.

In the Orange and Blue’s first singles match of the day, Kelly Morque ’13 was matched up against Aaron Chaffee of William & Mary. The match was hard fought in the first set and seemed as if it could go either way. Unfortunately, Morque eventually fell to his opponent in two sets 7-6, 6-3. Evan Zimmer ’13 suffered a similar fate in his singles event against Jimmy Davis of George Mason. After a close first set, Zimmer was unable to hang on and was defeated in two sets by the score of 7-6, 6-2.

“[We] were very competitive in all our matches [and the tough competition in the tournament] helps prepare for the spring season because when you play the best, it only gets easier from there,” assistant head coach Craig Schwartz said.

The singles matches were followed by a doubles match that pitted Zimmer and Josh Katten ’13 against Ryan Shane and Jonathan Cornish of Virginia. The Bison were unable to get anything going off the serve and were eventually defeated by a score of 8-1.

“While we were not able to leave victorious, we were able to measure our skills against some of the top players in the nation,” Katten said.

The team will now head indoors for its indoor training and conditioning. The next match for the Bison will be the spring home opener against St. Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 2. The team’s performance in the fall season has left both the players and the coaches happy with the team’s current position and looking forward to the spring season. Going into his final season as a member of the Bison men’s tennis team, Katten is setting high expectations for the spring.

“I hope as a team that we can put our full efforts together and accomplish what we all want so badly: a Patriot League Championship,” Katten said.

Chris McCree
Sports Editor

The men’s tennis team posted 17 wins over two days at the Bucknell Invitational this past weekend, going 8-1 on the first day and 9-4 on day two. The Orange and Blue had their most success in doubles, winning eight of nine matches with the only loss occurring in a head-to-head match featuring two Bison duos. Octavio Canibe ’15 and Kelly Morque ’13 will face Josh Katten ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13 in the doubles championship later in the week.

“What stood out to me this weekend is how versatile we are in certain areas,” Katten said. “For one, we have some very strong doubles players; it just takes the right combinations to produce wins. I was also very impressed with our team’s resiliency. This was our fourth straight weekend of matches, and we were able to fight through some of the weariness that comes with playing many matches.”

In singles, the Bison dominated in the first round but could not find the same level of success during the quarterfinals. Zimmer and Canibe pulled out tiebreak wins in the Flight A singles on day one, but lost in the next round. Both of Zimmer’s matches were decided in tiebreakers.

In Flight B singles, the Orange and Blue had more success as Chris Tortora ’14 and Jonathan DeFrancesch ’15 each won two matches to advance to the finals. Both players won in straight sets on day one but needed a tiebreak set in the semifinals to overcome opponents from Duquesne.

“As a whole, our team’s performance was promising, but as always there is much room for improvement,” Katten said. “Unfortunately, at the moment we are dealing with quite a few injuries, so while we had some solid individual performances, as a whole we are missing some important pieces.”

With two all-Bison finals, the Orange and Blue will increase their title tally to four for the fall season. The team has two tournaments remaining on the season and then will start up its spring campaign in February.

“The fall matches are often a good indicator of how we will perform in the spring,” Katten said. “However, this year we have a tough fall schedule which may induce some losses but in the long run will strengthen our team. I think as a unit we have high expectations for our spring slate, but we need to be mindful that it is a process and the league champion is often the team that grows the most throughout the year.”

The Bison will return to action next weekend from Oct. 12-14 at the Lehigh Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa.

Cooper Mead

Writer

The Bison traveled to Philadelphia for the Saint Joseph’s Invitational this past weekend, getting off to an explosive start by winning nine of their first 11 matches on day one. Five of those matches were in singles play and two of them were against fellow Patriot League contenders.

Evan Zimmer ’13 defeated Jose Sierra from Saint Joseph’s by a score of 6-4, 6-4 in Flight 1 singles action. Nick Bybel ’16 defeated Thomas O’Brien of Villanova 6-3, 6-3. Bybel and Zimmer also competed in a doubles bout against Lafayette’s Brandon Goldstein and James Oliver, winning 8-1. The duo proceeded through to the quarterfinals and defeated Max Montague and Andreas Urrea of Saint Joseph’s by a score of 8-3.

Partners Josh Katten ’13 and Kelly Morque ’13 also had significant doubles wins as they defeated Army’s Rashad Shelton and Ben Davies by a score of 8-6 and then defeated Hofstra’s Ari Richman and Adrien Bailly by a score of 8-5. Other victories on day one included Katten’s defeat of Kristian Broaddus 6-3, 6-0, and Aidan Lynch ’14 and Jonathan DeFrancesch ’15 also won their singles bouts.

On the second day of the invitational, the Bison emerged with a .500 record on the day. Singles action was highly contested, with three matches going into super tiebreaks.  Zimmer defeated Mark Miller of Villanova 3-6, 6-3, 10-5, but he later lost in the quarterfinals to Skyler Davis of Drexel 6-4, 6-4. Similarly, Octavio Canibe ’15 defeated Max Montague of Saint Joseph’s 3-6, 6-0, 10-5, but fell to Army’s Roman Cacha 6-1, 1-6, 10-4 in his second super tiebreaker of the day in the quarterfinals.

Katten and Lynch tallied victories in the second round against Patriot League opponents, with Lynch beating Army’s Ron Verano 6-2, 6-1 and Katten defeating Chris Matturri of Lafayette 6-4, 6-0. Morque also won his consolation singles match 7-5, 6-4 against Hofstra’s Antonio Pena.

The final day of the Saint Joseph’s Invitational was a struggle for the Bison. Morque and Katten lost to Alex Veronis and Jose Sierra from Saint Joseph’s 9-7 in the quarterfinals. Bybel and Zimmer also failed to defeat Alex Holland and Henry Jang-Milsten from Army, losing 8-3. Despite the doubles struggles, Morque won the Flight 2 singles consolation draw  by defeating Pierre Brondeau of Saint Joseph’s winning the first set 6-2, dropping the second in a tiebreaker, and winning in a super tiebreaker 10-6. He then proceeded to defeat Joseph LaBate from La Salle 6-2, 6-4.

“It was a really up and down weekend for us. We had some solid individual performances across the board, but we never really gained momentum throughout the weekend,” Morque said.

“This was a very good tournament, aside from the injuries,” Lynch said. “Everyone got a lot of matches, which is always important early on in the year. We saw some very good things and hopefully will continue to get better this weekend.”

The Bison will attempt to improve on the week’s performance as they get ready for their last home matches of the fall in the Bucknell Invitational this weekend.

Cooper Mead

Writer

The men’s tennis team split up last weekend to compete in the Princeton Invitational and the Mount St. Mary’s Invitational.

At the Princeton Invitational, Josh Katten ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13 both won their singles matches, while Katten also teamed up with Kelly Morque ’13 to win their first-round doubles match and defeat Princeton’s Mohamed El Tonbari and Michael Lin, 8-4. Despite Katten’s first round singles win over Andrew Berman of UPenn (4-6, 6-4, 6-2), he had a tough second round match-up and lost to St. John’s MJ Every after dropping the opening frame 6-1. Zimmer’s first match went well as he beat Cornell’s Alex Sidney 6-3, 6-2, but he was defeated by Yale’s Kyle Dawson 6-0, 3-6, 6-1.

As the tournament progressed, the Orange and Blue struggled as Nick Bybel ’16 lost his match to Arvis Berzins of Fairleigh Dickinson 6-3, 6-0, which ended the Bison’s contention in the singles bracket. Similarly, Morque and Katten brought the team’s competition to a close at the Princeton Invitational when they lost in an 8-5 contest against Wake Forest’s Sam Bloom and Brendan Henry.

In Emmitsburg, Md. the Bison were only able to send two players through to the second round. Octavio Canibe ’15 won 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 over Duk Young Park of Morgan State and Jonathan DeFrancesch ’15 defeated Jordan Kuchta of Loyola (Md.) 6-4, 6-3 in the first round. In the semi-final round, Canibe was a 6-2, 3-6, 10-4 winner over Adam Salam of Mount St. Mary’s and DeFrancesch defeated Morgan State’s Jannick Tash 5-7, 6-3, 10-4 in their Flight B semifinal.

In the doubles arena, partners Canibe and Rosen won 9-8 against Mike Salomon and Salam of Mount St. Mary’s. The Bison duo lost their next round match to Duk Young Park and Tash of Morgan State, 8-4.

On Sunday, Canibe lost to Matt Blake from Mount St. Mary’s in the finals by a score of 7-5, 6-2 to place second in the Flight A title bout. Also competing in the finals was DeFrancesch, who defeated Evan Ward 6-4, 6-4, and won the Flight B singles title, tallying a career best with three consecutive wins this weekend. Aidan Lynch ’14 also defeated Bobby Gorczakowski of Loyola 7-5, 6-4 in the backdraw.

“Overall, it was a successful weekend for everyone. There was solid competition at both tournaments and we got a lot of matches in, which is very important at this point in the season. We hope to have a productive week of practice and be at our best for the St. Joes tournament,” Morque said.

After the Bison’s strong performance at the Mount St. Mary’s Invitational, they will prepare for the St. Joseph’s Invitational in Philadelphia on Sept. 21-23.