After completing successful indoor seasons, both the men and women’s tennis teams open the Ivy League portions of their schedules this weekend with matches against Columbia and Penn.
The men, who will travel to New York City and Philadelphia, come in with a record of 13-4 on the season thus far. They have won three straight matches after dropping a pair to nationally-ranked Memphis and Virginia Tech over spring break.
One of the key’s to the Red’s success thus far has been the play of freshman Brett McKeon. McKeon has won 10 singles matches this season and has won eight doubles matches with partner junior Mike Schlappig.
“The whole season up to this point has been working towards the Ivy schedule,” he said.
McKeon noted that the Red, who defeated both Columbia and Penn last season, will “try to build our confidence” until their toughest test of the season — next week’s match against Ivy favorite Harvard.
The women’s team is coming off a rough spring break trip in which the Red lost all three of its matches to fall to 3-8 on the season.
The only singles victories during the trip were by sophomore Melissa Tu, who prevailed in the No. 6 spot in all three matches, and by junior Kate Sternberg who won at the No. 5 spot against her opponents from Rutgers and Barry.
The Red dominated the doubles matches against Rutgers, winning all three. Sophomore Akane Kokubo and senior Nicole Chiu won in the No. 1 position, freshmen Mollie Edinson and Liying Wang were victorious in the No. 2 spot, while Tu and classmate Erika Takeuchi prevailed at the No. 3 spot.
The women will host Columbia, which the Red beat 4-3 last season, this afternoon. Penn will visit Reis Tennis Center tomorrow at noon. Last season, the Red fell to the Quakers 6-1.
Archived article by Chris Mascaro