Courtesy of Brian Beard

The men’s tennis team (7–2; 2–0 NESCAC) made a long excursion to California this spring break, the first week starting off with a match against Chapman University (6–8) on Wednesday and going into a highly contested match with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College (16–1) on Friday. The second week also brought a flurry of matches, with the Polar Bears coming out strong with a 4–3 victory over the University of Redlands (5–7) and taking second place at the Stag-Hen Invitational, dominating against Johns Hopkins University (6–4) and Babson College (8–3), while losing against Claremont in the finals.

Getting used to the California weather and different court conditions were big factors when playing, with some days going up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The team built on previous training and focused on adjusting to the environment, captain Mark Kneiss ’26 said.

“It’s a little bit of a balance between wanting to refresh and wanting to feel good in the matches but then also needing to adjust to outdoor conditions, to a little bit of the wind factor, having the sun in your eyes in some situations, and then obviously the temperature,” Kneiss said. “So there were definitely a few days of some longer practices, getting ready and geared up for that. But at the end of the day…, you just do your thing, and you trust in your practice.”

Captain Andrew Mendelson ’26 explained that the different environment was a good taste of what the rest of the season would bring.

“We’re a team that has a no-excuse mentality, where we obviously know that we’re going to be playing in a bunch of different conditions all year, and that’s just kind of part of the process,” Mendelson said.  “All our important matches are going to be on different surfaces, in different spots, and we just want to make sure that we’re as well prepared as we can be.”

This year, the team has focused on bringing a unique energy to each match, as was the case versus Redlands when Kneiss played the deciding match.

“Every year the team changes.… One of the things we really value is enjoying our time on the court. As a senior with only so much time left with this team, that’s something I’ve definitely tapped into and definitely appreciated tight match situations,” Kneiss said. “As much pressure as there was on the line, [because] we needed [the Redlands] match for the entire team [to win], we were able to stay relaxed. Just as a team, the guys made it a fun environment, pumping each other up, cheering each other on, making a fun environment to play in.”

The match against Bates College (3–6; 1–3 NESCAC) tomorrow will bring different challenges.

“Their indoor surface is notoriously fast and unpredictable, and so our coach is getting us ready to play very quick, fast tennis and practicing a lot for that,” Mendelson said.

The team’s goal is to win the national championship, which Mendelson has high hopes for.

“We’ve had that goal for a long time. We got fairly close my sophomore year, but I think this year we have a real shot,” Mendelson said. “We saw the Claremont match come down to a few points. It was extremely close, and that team’s number one in the country, so we’re right up there with a lot of the top teams in the country.”

The team travels to play Bates College at noon tomorrow.