Men's Tennis Eagles soar past St. Michaels

By Nino Hertogs

Our Eagles came back from spring break in California bronzed, even though they did not win any medals. The sun had put some color on their skins, but the results of their matches weren't shining so bright. After bringing up the rear to Cal Lutheran (ranked #19), Occidental College, Vanguard University (ranked #3 ) and Westmont College (ranked #22), they went on to thump Whittier College, only to then go down again to Pomona-Pitzer. The season's record now read 2-6, given that before break they had fallen to Skidmore and beaten Franklin Pierce. Unhappy with the record, our Eagles are determined to turn their season around quickly.

The first test of their boosted determination came Tuesday, March 22nd when our Eagles traveled to Colchester, VT to take on state rival St. Michaels College. This was the moment of truth where the Eagles had to prove that they could take flight again, after suffering several tough losses on the West Coast.

Playing number one for Green Mountain was Argentinean Nicolas Bourges. He had played at number one throughout all the matches in California, putting up some great fights. In this contest, the sophomore proved to be no match for his opponent Josh Holt from St. Mike's beating him easily with a score of 6-2, 6-0. Ryan Cassidy filled the second slot in California, playing tremendously hard against some nationally ranked players. Against the Purple Knights of Saint Michaels, sophomore Ryan had troubles with challenger Andy Samara, fighting until the last minute but losing to him 6-2, 6-3. Over break Australian Thibaut Huens, sophomore, played some great matches that went to distance, which isn't unusual for him. In this match however, Thibaut smashed his way to an effortless victory beating Wil Benoit 6-1, 6-0. Senior Blake Bernard was right up there with Thibaut, disarming his Purple Knight by the same score. In two short sets he demonstrated that he was superior to Christian van den Brock winning 6-1, 6-0. After suffering an injury to his knee, senior Wil Biddle was a day-to-day case up until game time. He could barely run, and had troubles with changing directions rapidly. His match was the most interesting one, and it took the Britt the full three sets to get through the Knight's armor, beating Torr Terranova 7-6, 3-6, and the tiebreaker 11-9. At number six for Green Mountain was Joe Bossen, the freshman soccer player that has stepped up to fill up GMC's empty sixth slot. Joe was a little rusty at first, because he did not go to Cali with the team. Joe seemed to throw his opponent off with his own unorthodox style of play, but in the end he fell 6-0, 6-2. Not playing for the Eagles was sophomore Nino Hertogs.

The doubles matches proved to be more of the same. At number one Ryan Cassidy and Blake Bernard cruised to an easy victory, beating the St Michaels' duo 8-1. At the number 2 doubles Thibaut Huens and Nicolas Bourges did almost the equivalent, beating their opponents 8-2. The combination of an injured Wil Biddle and freshman Joe Bossen turned out to be insufficient, losing 8-2.

Overall our Eagles proved ready, ridding themselves of Saint Michaels by the final team score of 6-3. The next gut check for the team comes April 6th, when they travel to Massachusetts to take on Springfield College.