The men's tennis team opened its season in good fashion last weekend at the Middlebury Invitational, and looks to continue its success at the ITA New England Championships, which will take place at Williams College over the next two weeks.
At Middlebury last weekend, Bowdoin players performed well, despite missing their number one player, Stephen Sullivan '11, who is studying abroad for the fall semester. The Polar Bears performed especially well in singles play, with two players—Oscar Pena '12 and Casey Grindon '13—surviving deep into their respective draws.
"Stephen is missed, but he has great tennis opportunities in Madrid for the semester," said Coach Colin Joyner. "The fall is all individual matches, so Stephen being gone does not affect the team's results."
Pena, competing in the A Flight Singles, entered the tournament ranked No. 11 in the Northeast and No. 41 in the country.
After an easy win in the first round over Ithaca, he faced Middlebury's No. 3 player, Andrew Peters. After taking the first set, Pena was bothered by a sore shoulder in the second, allowing Peters to win 15-13 in a tiebreaker, despite Pena having several match points.
In the third set superbreaker, Pena adjusted his game and was able to defeat Peters by a score of 10-7, displaying a high level of play.
Advancing to the semifinals, Pena faced the No. 24-ranked player in the country. Playing with a high level of patience and maturity, he was able to advance in straight sets before falling in the final to Andrew Thompson of Middlebury.
"I was very happy with Oscar's performance this weekend," said Joyner. "He saw openings in the court that only a seasoned player recognizes."
Grindon, competing in the D Flight Singles, cruised through the first two rounds and faced two Middlebury opponents in the semifinals and finals. In both of those matches, Grindon won the first set, dropped the second, and took the superbreaker by a significant margin.
"Casey is a very skilled player capable of about any shot in the book," said Joyner. "He was very coachable and able to make immediate adjustments to his strategy, a skill that aided him in winning both the semis and the finals."
Grindon performed well in doubles as well as singles, teaming up with Kent Winingham '12 to reach the semifinals of their bracket, collecting several solid wins along the way.
Another notable performance came from Josh Cranin '11, who was able to reach the quarterfinals of both his singles and doubles bracket, teaming up with Matt Knise '10 in doubles.
"The strong field in this tournament resulted in some great competition and it was good to get the opportunity to see my guys in action," said Joyner.
Michael Power '11 assessed the weekend's results: "We can clearly see that there is still room for improvement, but since it was our first tournament, I am extremely optimistic," he said. "This year our team has an immense amount of depth and I think we will be able to compete with the best."