The DePauw men’s tennis team concluded its brief fall season this past weekend after competing in the USTA/ITA Central Regional Championship at North Central High School in Indianapolis.
The team finished happy with their short run, but looks forward to working hard over the winter months, as they pick back up again Feb. 1, at for their first tournament at Washington University in St. Louis.
“As a team, we ended on a high note this fall season,” senior Eric Bruynseels said. “It was a tough draw but we had many people competing on the second and third days of the tournament.”
In the weekend’s play, sophomores Dan Rodefield, Patrick Farrell, John Daeske and Matt Santen all won their first-round single matches. Farrell and Santen both advanced to the second round after defeating their competition. Junior Alec Kaczkowski and senior Chris Bertolini also made it past the first round of play.
In doubles, Brynseels and Santen won their first-round match. Seniors Rico Lumanlan and Eric Vannatta both advanced to the round of 16 while Farrell and sophomore Harold Martin reached the quarterfinals. Bertolini and Rodefield were the only pair to make it to the semifinal match, losing 8-6 to the tournament’s number three-seeded team.
Looking back over the season most of the men agree that the Tigers have great fitness compared to some of the other teams they faced helping them to find success.
“We knew after playing a few matches in the heat that we were probably the best-conditioned team there,” Farrell said. “We knew that we were good enough to beat some of the best teams in the region based on our performance.”
In addition to their fitness, the team’s double pairs also proved to be successful and helped the team with their singles matchups.
“Our good doubles play really gave us confidence to play well in singles this fall,” Farrell said. “We need to improve on our singles strategy a bit. We spent a little to long knocking off some singles rust from last year but I like the direction our team is heading for the spring.”
While only competing in three tournaments in the Fall the Tigers won’t see any competition before the Spring season rolls around in the new year.
However, earlier in the season, the Tigers faced Division II teams like Ohio Dominican University, Grand Valley State University and the University of Indianapolis. These teams brought some tough competition for the Tigers that they haven’t seen in a while, according to Assistant Coach Andrew Gregory.
The level of competition the Tigers saw these past few weeks will prepare them for their Spring season when they’re looking towards grasping the North Coast Athletic Conference title and sending players to the NCAA national tournament.
The team will continue to work on their fitness over the break as they look ahead to the Spring season.
“We'll definitely keep working on our fitness in the winter and making sure we don't miss a beat for when the spring starts,” Farrell said. “Because we know how important it is to hit the ground running at the start of the spring.”