The men's tennis team capped off its fall season with a strong showing at the Wallach Invitational, a tournament held at Bates.
The two-day event, originally slated to be played on the newly renovated outdoor courts, was forced inside because of inclement weather.
Sophomores Noah Buntman and Garrett Gates saw first-round action in the A flight singles draw. Although Gates lost a tough, three-set match to Tufts's Will Fleder, Buntman won his match in a tie-breaker after dropping the first set.
In the second round, Buntman played Amherst senior Dan Babkes. He lost a tough match, 6-1, 7-5, but was pleased by his play.
"I think I really stepped it up in the second set," said Buntman.
In the B flight, first-year Alex Coughron rolled over his opponent from University of Southern Maine, 6-0, 6-0, before facing Colby senior Ben Crane in the second round. The match was a close one and Crane, the eventual B flight champion, eked out a 7-6, 6-4 win over Coughron.
On the other side of the draw, Alex White '09 battled Sean McCooey, a lefty from Tufts. White eventually lost in straight sets. "It was tough returning a lefty's serve out there," he said afterwards.
In the C flight, Armin Drake '08 and Blake Wheale '09 cruised through their first round opponents, defeating them 6-1, 6-2, and 6-3, 6-1, respectively. Drake ran into some difficulty in his second round match, falling to Vinh Tran of Tufts in straight sets.
Wheale, however, overwhelmed his second round opponent, defeating him 6-1, 6-3. "Those first couple of matches of the tournament were great, because my game seemed to just come together," Wheale said.
On Sunday, Wheale lost to Jon Godsall of Amherst, the eventual champion of the C flight. "It was a tough match, no doubt about it. But I came away learning a lot about how I should play people like that."
In the D flight singles, first year Nick Day lost to Geof Loh of Tufts, 6-4, 6-3. Assistant Coach Joyner commented afterwards, "Nick gave Loh a tough match, but needs more match experience against good opponents."
Andrew Fried '08, the other Bowdoin player in the D flight, had two incredible days of tennis at the Invitational.
Joyner commented on Fried's success. "The most impressive play came from sophomore Andrew Fried, who made the finals of the D flight as well as the semifinals of the A flight doubles," he said.
Fried crushed opponents from Colby and Amherst on his way to the finals. In the finals, he met Colby's Tom Gildersleeve. The two split sets, and Fried lost in a close tie-breaker.
In doubles, Fried teamed with Gates to win their first two matches before falling to the number one seed and eventual tournament champions in a close 8-6 match.