Upon returning from a 10-day Spring Break trip to Hawaii devoted to tennis and leisure, the Bowdoin Men and Women's Tennis Teams encountered mixed results. Last Tuesday, the men's squad dropped a close decision to Wheaton, 4-3, while, the women rolled over an inexperienced Smith team, 9-0.
At Wheaton, Bowdoin jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with straight-set wins from Sam Bitetti '07, Alex White '09, and Drew McDonald '07. Wheaton, however, stormed back to take the remaining singles matches at the one, four, and five positions.
Weather conditions forced the doubles play onto indoor courts. Although Wheaton won at third doubles, the second doubles tandem of White and first-year Alex Caughron defeated their opponents handily to even the doubles at one a piece.
For the deciding point, Bitetti and sophomore Garrett Gates went to a tiebreaker with Wheaton's first doubles team. Up in the tiebreak, the duo lost in heartbreaking fashion, 5-7.
Despite the loss, the young team is confident that it will be in top form this weekend. The Polar Bears play Amherst at home on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday the Bears travel to Trinity where they will battle the Bantams.
Coach Jane Paterson is confident that the Bears will be ready for this weekend's matches.
"All the matches we'll be playing from here on out will be similar, so knowing what to expect should allow all of us to 'bring it' to the next match," she said.
On the women's side, the Polar Bears coasted to an easy victory at Smith last weekend. Bowdoin swept the doubles matches. All singles matches were decided in straight sets, except for first-year Sara D'Elia at number one singles. D'Elia, who dropped the first set, came back to take the second, 6-1, and won the superbreaker, 10-6.
The women's squad faces MIT and Trinity on the road this weekend.