Courtesy of Tufts University

From October 3 to October 5, the men’s tennis team competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Regional Championships hosted at Tufts University. Mark Kneiss ’26 emerged victorious out of the 64-competitor singles draw, qualifying for the national ITA Cup in Rome, Ga. this weekend.

In his journey to the championship title, Kneiss had to face one of his own teammates, Andrew Mendelson ’26, in the quarterfinals.

“It’s always a great feeling when we do well enough to meet each other in these tournaments,” Kneiss wrote in an email to the Orient. “As a team, we play against each other a lot and have built the skill to make those matches feel mentally and physically real, just like any other college match. The competitiveness and desire to win makes those matches exciting.”

Kiran Garapati ’28 faced a similar challenge, reaching the singles semifinals after facing Simon Catanzaro ’29 in the quarterfinal round. Garapati emphasized the importance of treating these unique competitions like any other match.

“Just trying to treat it as much like a match as you can, going through the same routine, saying the same words,” Garapati said. “It’s important to keep celebrating when you’re winning important points.”

Despite being singles opponents, Garapati and Catanzaro were a pair in the doubles bracket and performed well together. The duo reached the semifinal round before falling to Babson College duo Sebastian Mendoza and Ed Wang, who ended up claiming the doubles championship title. Garapati reflected on their success as a new pairing.

“I was really proud of how we made progress through the fall in terms of strategy, decision-making and just overall team awareness,” Garapati said. “I think we’ve come a long way.”

Garapati added that the mental aspect involved in tennis is a huge factor in the sport and described what the team does to handle the pressure and maintain a positive mindset.

“Every semester, we actually read a book as a team about the mental component, and we have a little book talk plus practice. I think that gives us a lot of different strategies to cope with the ups and downs of tennis,” Garapati said. “For me, that’s before a big point, or let’s say I just lost that point. I’ll go back to my towel, and I’ll pretend like I’m erasing that memory with my towel and take a big deep breath in and out.”

Combining off-the-court work with an emphasis on playing as a team, Garapati emphasized that the Polar Bears’ success at ITAs was no mistake.

“Especially in the fall, where it’s kind of more individually based, you can kind of feel like you’re competing by yourself,” Garapati said. “We really focused on creating that atmosphere together. So it’s not just you against another person, it’s you and your team against another person.”

Going forward, Kneiss feels that the team has potential for further success, describing how learning from matches is something that gives the team an edge.

“The weekend gave our team a taste of what we are capable of achieving. We take motivation and self belief from our collective performances,” Kneiss wrote. “We also built a better understanding of how we best compete as a unit, which we hope to carry into the spring season.”

Taking what they’ve learned from the fall, the men’s tennis team will prepare for their spring season. Their goals include going beyond the Sweet 16 their season ended with last year and competing for a national championship.

“We really want to get to that Elite Eight stage, because once you’re at that stage, that’s nationals, and everybody there is really competing for that national championship…. All those eight teams are the same level,” Garapati said. “It can go any way.”