The No. 68 ranked men’s tennis team continued its impressive winter play yesterday, dominating St. Bonaventure, 7-0, at Reis Tennis Center. The Red is now 8-1 overall, it’s only defeat coming to Harvard in fall competition.
“We had a very good fall, and we’ve picked up right where we left off,” said head coach Barry Schoonmaker.
In singles play, senior Zach Gallin faced off against last year’s A-10 Player of the Year, Mario Arce, in the No. 1 singles spot. Gallin dropped his opponent 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.
“Zach played a good first set tiebreaker,” Schoonmaker noted. “He had one bad service game in the second set, but he took over in the third.”
At the No. 2 spot, senior Scott Paltrowitz also recorded a victory, defeating his opponent in three sets, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
The middle and lower parts of the Cornell lineup continued their strong play as well. Senior Scott Spencer, sophomores Brett McKeon and Ray Wu, as well as freshman Josh Raff, all won in straight sets.
McKeon gave up only two games on his way to victory. The Florida native has been very impressive of late, starting with three straight wins on Feb. 22 and 23 against Rutgers, Army, and Buffalo.
“Brett McKeon had a great weekend [against those teams],” Schoonmaker said. “Then he took on a good player on Thursday and won big.”
The netters were also victorious in all three doubles matches. The No. 1 team of Gallin and Spencer won a close 8-5 match, while the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams earned 8-1 and 8-2 wins, respectively.
Next weekend, Cornell will compete in the HEB Championships, in Corpus Christi, Tex. The tournament should help the Red prepare for tough Ivy League play beginning in April.
“They’ll be a lot of nationally ranked teams there,” Schoonmaker said. “The tournament will give us a chance to see where we are. There are no easy matches from here on in.”
Archived article by Ted Nyman