Men’s

Over the past weekend, the men’s tennis team lost two matches putting their record at 4-4 on the season. The Colonels lost to Ursinus College 8-1 and to Lafayette College 6-1.

The men’s first match of the weekend was against Ursinus on Friday, April 1. Ursinus quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead after sweeping the doubles portion of the match.

The Bears continued to dominate the match by winning five of six singles to defeat the Colonels by a final score of 8-1.

Sophomore Cole Gibson was the lone winner for Wilkes as the No. 1 Single, defeating Ursinus sophomore Lars Jespersen in three sets by scores of 7-5, 5-7 and 10-5.

First-year No. 6 Nick Putney came close to a victory in his singles match, but fell to Ursinus sophomore Ethan Yu in three sets by scores of 4-6, 6-4 and 8-10.

On Saturday, April 2, the Colonels traveled to Easton, Pa. to face the Division I Lafayette Leopards.

In this matchup, the Colonels lost 6-1 to bring their season record to an even 4-4.

No.1 Single Gibson and first-year No.

4 Single Nathaniel Rathe both lost their matches in two sets by scores of 6-2 and 6-2. Sophomore No. 2 Single John Toussaint lost in two sets 6-0 and 6-1 and first-year No. 3 Single Connor Frey lost his match in two sets 6-4 and 6-0. No. 5 Single Putney lost his match in one set by a score of 8-2.

Lafayette was able to sweep the doubles portion, as Toussaint and sophomore Jacob Bossler lost their match 6-1, Gibson and Rathe lost their match 6-0 and Putney and first-year Rodniel Senson lost their match 6-1.

“I think that we have a resilience that’s undeniable, and that shows in our matches day-in and day-out,” said Toussaint. “We proved to ourselves that our goals are undoubtedly attainable and well within our reach, we just have to keep putting in the work and playing the sport we love.”

The Colonels play their next match against rival King’s College on April 5, where they will also play their first match within the MAC Freedom Conference.

Women’s

On April 2, the women’s tennis team lost two matches to put their record at 3-4 on the season. The Colonels traveled to Lafayette College where they lost 7-0 and hosted New Paltz College at home where

they lost 8-1.
The Colonels dropped their match

against Lafayette, as they were shut down completely in all singles and doubles played leading to the 7-0 loss.

Senior No. 1 Single Dasha Yakhnis and senior No. 3 Single Alexa Cieri both lost their matches in two sets by scores of 6-0 and 6-0. Sophomore No. 2 Single Zoe Klein came close to winning her match after a 6-6 tie in the first set, but eventually lost the second set by a score of 2-0.

The rest of the Colonels singles lost in one set, as first-year No. 4 Tia Amerise fell 8-5, senior No. 5 Abby Bielecki fell 8-0 and sophomore No. 6 Cassidy Greenman fell 8-3.

The Leopards swept the doubles portion, as No. 1 Greenman and Klein fell 6-1, No. 2 Yakhnis and Cieri fell 6-1 and No. 3 Amerise and sophomore Kaitlyn O’Neil fell 6-1.

After their matches against Lafayette, the Colonels traveled back home to face New Paltz College.

In this matchup, Wilkes’ tough stretch continued as they lost 8-1 to the Hawks.

The Colonels’ only win of the day came from the No. 1 Doubles duo of Klein and Greenman as they won in three sets by a score of 8-4.

The No. 2 Doubles Cieri and Yakhnis

lost by a score of 8-6 and the No. 3 Doubles Amerise and O’Neil fell 8-2. The Hawks swept all singles matches to secure the win against the Colonels. No. 1 Single Yakhnis lost her match in two sets by scores of 6-1 and 6-0.

No. 2 Single Klein started her match off hot, winning the first set 6-4. However, first-year Anna Barteck shut down Klein’s momentum and won the next two sets by scores of 6-0 and 10-4. No. 3 Single Cieri, No. 4 Single Amerise and No. 5 Single Greenman all lost their matches in two sets by scores of 6-2 and 6-0, 6-0 and 6-4 and 6-1 and 6-3 respectively.

No. 6 Single O’Neil came close to winning her match, evening up the score by taking the second set 6-3 after losing the first by the same score. O’Neil unfortunately fell to sophomore Loretta Donovan in the third set by a score of 10- 5.

“We’ve all seen how far we’ve come as individuals,” said Klein. “Just showing up to play our games can make all the difference. Not everything will be a win, but the well-fought-for losses spark the greatest fuel for improvement.”

As the away team, the Colonels will played their first MAC Freedom match of the season when they faced King’s College on April 5.