The Viking Men’s Tennis team matched up at home against Marian University with hopes of shifting the momentum of their season. The team’s record sat at 1-10 after a series of losses to more established programs, including some of the best Division III teams in the state. Things looked promising after a close 4-5 loss to Wisconsin Lutheran College in late February, but subsequent 1-8 and 0-9 losses to Carroll University and UW–Stevens Point had dented morale. Marian, on the other hand, presented a great opportunity to prepare the ship heading into a pair of tough conference matches against Grinnell and Cornell Colleges. The Sabres were unable to provide athletes to contest the third doubles or sixth singles matches, meaning Lawrence started the matchup with a 2-0 lead already in the bag. Though based on the final results, it hardly seems the Vikings would have needed that gift to secure the victory.
Lawrence strolled through the opening doubles matches, winning the first and second doubles by a combined score of 16-0. First doubles pairing of sophomores Andrew Larson and Dylan Delgado cruised to an 8-0 victory, as did the second doubles team of first-year Hikaru Takemura and sophomore Rahul Sabnis. Neither match lasted beyond 20 minutes, as there was a clear difference in talent levels between the two teams.
This trend continued into the singles round, with Lawrence only dropping a total of eight games across 10 sets and each player winning their match in straight sets. Larson, Lawrence’s top singles player, never needed to get out of second gear as he cruised past his opponent, Marian’s Nathan Hunter. He essentially allowed Hunter to beat himself, staying composed through each rally until Hunter either made an error or left himself exposed. This match also lasted a mere 20 minutes.
Every other Lawrence singles player’s story was fairly similar. Takemura was the player to drop the most games, as he won his second singles match 6-2, 6-1. He seemed to be struggling with a few technical errors throughout play, but still had more than enough quality to dominate the match in straight sets. Elsewhere, Delgado was the only player not to drop a single game. After winning the first doubles match 8-0, he then proceeded to defeat Marian’s third singles player, Ryan Azzaline, 6-0 to finish 20-0 in a near-perfect performance. Fourth singles saw Yuming Zhang pick up his first career collegiate win as he dominated Payton Fox 6-0, 6-3 to score more points for the Vikings, while Sabnis finished the clean sweep with a fifth singles victory over John Daguinsin with a score of 6-0, 6-1—meaning he only dropped a single game all night. First-year Dillon Grade called the thumping win “a great momentum booster” as the team heads into a pair of tough conference matches.
Moving forward, Men’s Tennis seems to have a lot of promise not only this season, but heading into the next as well. They are clearly well coached by Ryan Ruzziconi, who is only in his first season at Lawrence. It was clear from the body language of coach and players alike throughout the evening that Ruzziconi has the respect of his players, and the team as a whole has a very technical style of playing tennis which bodes well for the players’ development over time.
And they do have plenty of time; there isn’t a single upperclassman on the entire men’s roster, meaning there is still plenty of time for each player to progress from both skill and athleticism perspectives. Seasoned conference opponents like Grinnell, Lake Forest and Cornell College will pose daunting tasks this season as the Vikings move into conference play, but their stature may fade a bit as this team has the chance to grow into its own. Further tough non-conference matches will only help in this process, and I will be excited to see what the rest of this season, as well as next, holds for Lawrence Men’s Tennis.
The Vikings are back in action Saturday, April 8 at the Fox Cities Racquet Club at home against conference opponents Illinois College at 10 a.m..