The men's tennis team bounced back from a tough loss against Butler last week with a 6-3 win over No. 37-ranked Coe College on Sunday at the Indoor Tennis and Track Center.
“I thought we showed a lot of resilience, a lot of scrap and fight,” said Head Coach Scott Riggle. “[Coe] doesn’t go down without a fight. I’m really happy with the guys.”
DePauw (8-9), ranked No. 33 nationally, got three-set wins at singles from first-year Greg Frauenheim, sophomore Matt Santen and senior Alec Kaczkowski.
Kaczkowski, along with sophomore Dan Rodefeld, also won at No. 1 doubles, while junior Nate Wallace and first-year Harold Martin battled back from 3-6 to win 9-7.
“[The] win was a huge one for us because it didn’t come easy at all,” Santen said. “We knew how important the match was to them so we had to match their intensity. … All of the matches out there were competitive but we came through in tight situations, which was great to see from our guys.”
The win was an impressive comeback after the Tigers were shut out against Butler 0-7, a match Riggle believed to be their poorest match of the season.
“I was disappointed in how we played against Butler,” Riggle said. “I don’t think we played smart with [them.] We just didn’t compete… [The loss] kind of woke us up [and] spurred us on against Coe.”
Kaczkowski agrees.
“I definitely think we had the loss from last week in mind for rebounding against a tough DIII opponent,” he said.
Tomorrow, the Tigers will host rival Wabash College in their first conference match of the season. With an off-day on Monday, the team returns to the courts today in preparation for one of their critical matches of the regular season.
“I always love playing Wabash because we know how fired up they get to play us,” Santen said. “If we go out there and execute the way that we know how to, I think the results will be what we expect.”
The match is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start.