The DePauw University men's tennis team lost their No. 1 seed doubles team for good when their season came to a close in Sunday's 3-5 loss against Kenyon College in the NCAC Tournament Championship.
Seniors Sam Miles and Ben Kopecky are finished with their collegiate careers after four successful years with the Tigers program. Yesterday morning, the NCAC named both Miles and Kopecky to the All-NCAC First Team in both singles and doubles. For Miles, it was his third consecutive All-NCAC First Team selection.
Miles has had high expectations set on him since his freshman year with the program in 2010 as a two-time team state champion and a two-time First Team All-State selection. Miles was slotted to compete in the No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles seed in his first season.
In his first college match ever, an early-September season debut against Indiana Wesleyan University, Miles won his single match against the Wildcat's Adam Wroughton in two sets, 6-0 and 6-1. The former Indiana state champion has not looked back since. In his freshman year, he was awarded the First Team All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in singles and Second-Team in doubles.
As a sophomore, he and Kopecky went 22-9 in their doubles matches and went on to win the ITA Central Regional Doubles Championship. At the season's end, he was awarded All-American honors, as well as an All-NCAC First Team selection in singles and Second Team in doubles.
That year, Kopecky and Miles formed the dynamic duo that would help the Tigers' success over the past three seasons. Kopecky held his own in singles as well in their sophomore year, recording an 11-4 record in the No. 2 singles slot.
Despite a rough patch in their junior year, consistency has been the key for Miles and Kopecky since they became doubles partners. Last season, the Tigers team took on the Division I Indiana University in early April. Kopecky and Miles lost their doubles match to Josh MacTaggart and Daniel Bednarczyk, 8-5.
The following week, the duo lost again at the hands of Vincennes Warren Juhn and Erick Bermudez. Being the second consecutive loss in a long time for Miles and Kopecky, Tiger fans had a right to be concerned. Miles and Kopecky eliminated those doubts, winning their matches in the last six games of the season, including the NCAC Championship doubles match against Kenyon.
Kopecky is proud of how he and the program have matured during the past four years.
"DePauw's program has a strong history and to say that I have been able to contribute to that legacy gives me a great amount of pride," Kopecky said. "The atmosphere has always been competitive and challenging, and I will never forget the lessons that I have learned by pushing myself to overcome those obstacles."
Miles and Kopecky's performance this season has resembled that of last year's late-season heroics. The tandem went 17-3 as No. 1 seed flights this season. Their three losses was only beat out by Kenyon's Wade Beerboth and Colin Haas for the least losses this season. Beerboth and Haas had two.
First-year Pat Farrell said that the late-season heroics were not an accident but a result of the hard work they had put in over the past four years.
Regardless of the numbers, Miles and Kopecky are leaving behind more than stellar statistics for DePauw's program. Their leadership has touched many of the Tigers' younger players, like Farrell and first-year Harold Martin.
"This years seniors leave behind a legacy of great leadership and solid and consistent play," Farrell said. "We could always count on Sam and Ben in doubles, and Joe was always setting an example for the rest of us. I learned a lot from them by watching them put in work everyday and the program will definitely miss their hard work and team-first attitude."
Kopecky and Miles' Tiger legacy is powerful on paper. The things that can't be seen, however, is what the DePauw program may miss the most.
"I hope they keep in mind the level of commitment that we had this year," Miles said. "In a couple seasons before this one, we weren't as consistent with our hard work in practice and making sure to do the right things off the court. This year, I think we showed the value of working hard on a regular basis and not trying to take short cuts in the process of trying to get better."
It will be difficult to replace the duo of Miles and Kopecky, but they have set the bar high for the future of DePauw men's tennis. They will be remembered not only for their success on the court, but also for their positive impact on the program as a whole.