The fall season started this past weekend for the Elizabethtown College men’s tennis team. The team took part in the two-day United States Tennis Association-Intercollegiate Tennis Association (USTA-ITA) Southeast Regional Championship, held on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29.
The championship was held on the University of Mary Washington campus in Fredericksburg, Va. The Blue Jays fought hard in Saturday’s singles bracket, where all the matches ended in the Jays falling to the consolation bracket. However, junior Michael Cannon was able to fight back with two wins to make it to the Blue 3 Singles Consolation Final. Cannon then narrowly missed defeating Bridgewater College senior Sam Churchill 9-7 in the Consolation Finals match. First-years Ryan Caris and Matthew Hornbaker were also competitive in their first round and consolation matches before falling.
The team saw six entrants in the tournament, led by Cannon and seniors Cole Turula and Joe Kirchner. These three are the only returning members to the team this year, with first-years Caris, Hornbaker and Ben Geiger filling out the lineup. The first years fared well in their collegiate debuts even against a talented field.
Sunday’s doubles bracket fared better for the Jays then earlier in the tournament. The team of Caris and Geiger was able to advance to the semifinals of the Blue 2 Doubles match. The team had wins against Nick Ensoy and Wyatt Paulishak of St. Mary’s College, 8-3, and Keith Beizer and David Woods of Muhlenburg, 8-2. The pair from Etown then fell in the semifinals match, 8-2, to Fitzhugh Johnson and JB Weaver of Hampden-Sydney College.
“We are ready to prove to the rest of the conference that we can still contend,” Kirchner said. “I would not be surprised if we finished in the top four this year with the opportunity to defend our three-year reign.”
The Jays look forward to ending their fall season at the Middle Atlantic Conference Individual Championships, taking place in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The tournament begins on Saturday, Oct. 12 with both singles and doubles action. The matches will wrap up on Sunday, Oct. 13 with the crowning of a new men’s singles and doubles champion.
