The Lawrence University men’s tennis team competed on Saturday, Feb. 15 against the UW-Oshkosh Titans and the Edgewood College Eagles at the Oshkosh YMCA Tennis Center. The Vikings were able to beat the shorthanded Eagles by a score of 7-2, but lost to the dominant Titans 9-0. These matches were the second and third of the season for the Vikings, who stand 1-2 overall.
Going into the weekend, the team had to focus on competing against two very different teams in Oshkosh and Edgewood on the same day. The Oshkosh Titans have historically been very competitive, while the Eagles were playing with a very small squad. “We knew Edgewood would be pretty similar to MSOE, our first match of the season, so we knew we could compete with them,” said freshman David Jumes. “We had two matches that day so our goal was to play hard on every point and see what would happen.” In their match against Oshkosh, the Vikings were completely shut down as the Titans did not lose a single set. The Titans started their season off strong, this being their first match of the season.
The Vikings proved to be much more successful in their match against Edgewood. Lawrence was able to sweep the doubles competition with victories from senior Jeremy Andereck and sophomore Brian DeCorte, freshmen Sam Weiner and Jumes, along with sophomores Adam Busch and Ethan Perushek who won by default. The Vikings reinforced these wins with victories in singles from Jumes, sophomore Mitch Kasprzyk, Weiner and Busch. At the end of the day, the Vikings came away with a 7-2 victory over the Eagles. “The team performed well, everyone fought really hard especially against Edgewood,” recalled DeCorte. “Overall, I’m very proud of the guys’ effort.”
Moving ahead, the Vikings look forward to a season full of tough Midwest Conference matches. “Having a small team this year, our goal is to stay healthy so we don’t have to forfeit any matches in conference,” says Jumes. “Other than that, we hope to have a lot of fun and produce some great results no matter who we play.” To be competitive in the conference, the Vikings need to focus on their fundamental skills and consistent execution. “It’s important that we’re competitive and doing the little things to win matches,” said DeCorte.
As long as the Vikings remain focused on achieving their goals, they will be a very tough team to beat. The men’s tennis team’s next match will be on Friday, Feb. 21 at Concordia University.