The men's tennis team (6-2) won its first home match of the season against Connecticut College (4-4) last Sunday, sweeping all of the singles matches and winning two of the three doubles matches to set the final score at 8-1. The opening game victory puts the team at a four-win streak, a strong start to the season.
"This match was a good confidence builder for the team," said Coach Colin Joyner. The singles matches were especially successful, even though the full lineup didn't play. Several players who are not usually in the lineup performed especially well with decisive, straight-set victories.
Joyner was happy to see the team step up to the competition.
"Michael Power '11, Matt Knise '10, Alex Jacobs '12, Kent Winingham '12, and Josh Roer '11 were all impressive in their matches," he said. "It was great to see their hard work pay off and to see them compete well under pressure."
Senior co-captain Alex White and first year Josh Cranin each earned a pair of points for Bowdoin.
White won at both the No. 3 singles and the No. 2 doubles with Tyler Anderson '10, and Cranin won at the No. 2 singles and the No. 3 doubles with Jacobs.
Senior co-captain Alex Caughron and Stephen Sullivan '11 won in straight sets at the No. 4 and No. 1 singles matches, respectively.
Knise and Power also notched straight-set victories at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches.
The only loss came in doubles play, an area that has seen a lot of focus and re-adjustment from the Polar Bears.
"I tried some new doubles combos out for the match," Joyner said. "I like these new combos that I put together and I'm curious to see how they hold up in competition."
The singles lineup is very strong, so the team has been putting in extra time practicing doubles. Colby and Tufts are ranked lower than Bowdoin, but the Polar Bears will need to show up and play good tennis this week to keep the momentum going.
The Polar Bears travel to Waterville today at 4 p.m. to take on Colby. They then face Tufts on Saturday at 1 p.m.