The men's tennis team had a mixed showing last weekend at the third annual Stony Brook Invitational. Bowdoin net two singles flight championships, though it failed to put any doubles teams into the finals.
Captain Oscar Peña '12 battled hard through the A bracket to win all four of his singles matches, while Sam King '14 cruised to victory through Flight B without losing a set. Peña's matches all lasted three sets, a testament to his endurance over the weekend.
Doubles performances, on the other hand, were rather lackluster compared to the singles success. Partners Peña and King lost in the A semifinals in a close 9-7 finish.
On the other side of Flight A, Alex Jacobs '12 and Chris Lord '14 made it to the semifinals as well before losing to two Stony Brook players, Roope Kailaheimo and Robert Forai, who went on to win the championship.
Coach Conor Smith, who joined the team over the summer to replace Colin Joyner '03, was generally pleased with the team's performance and commended Peña on his hard-fought matches.
"For him to win four three-setters in two days is pretty tough," said Smith. "That says a lot about his fight and being able to battle and stay loose during it."
Smith was also impressed by King, who he said had not been hitting his best during practice recently and stepped up his level of play for the tournament.
On the other hand, Smith was disappointed to not have any doubles teams make it to the finals, and noted the team's doubles play as an area for improvement.
The doubles pairings were all new, so this was the first test for them in match play against other schools.
Smith nonetheless stayed positive.
"I think for the guys it was a good weekend to get out to play some outside competition," he said. "I think it gives us some more areas to work on and improve, and to maybe realize some weaknesses."
Continuing the singles dominance, captain Kent Winingham '14 made it to the Flight C championship after a bye in the first round.
Additionally, first year Doug Caplan had a solid debut in the B-flight singles, winning his first two matches before losing to his teammate King.
In Flight B doubles, the duo of Eric Chien '14 and Peter Davis '14 also made it through to the semifinals after a first-round bye. Andrew Won '12 and Raouf Grissa '14 lost in their second round match 8-4.
The team is now looking ahead to the regional Intercollegiate Tennis Association tournament next weekend, one of the most critical of the fall season because it attracts the strongest D-III teams in the area. Smith hopes that coming out of last weekend, the team will be more match-tough and ready to compete against some of the teams it will be facing in the spring.