The Boston University men’s tennis team ought to hope first impressions are not lasting ones, as it got its fall season off to a rocky start against Worcester’s Assumption College Thursday, Sept. 18 at the BU tennis courts.
The lone Terrier win was tallied by freshman recruit Barret Wolf, who defeated Assumption freshman Dave Marshall, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 at the No. 2 singles position. Wolf represents one of many strong additions to the team who will likely prove to be valuable in the upcoming spring season.
‘Ordinarily, we can play with Assumption,’ said returning junior Nick Ganias. ‘It was our first match. We just have to play a little more.’
Luckily for the men’s team, the fall season will provide an opportunity to play a lot more, while also giving the Terriers an opportunity to scope out difficult opponents they may have to face in the spring. One of those opponents will be defending America East Conference Champion Binghamton University. The Terriers will have a long time to prepare, as the Bearcats come to BU on April 14.
Ganias predicted Binghamton will pose the biggest challenge to BU, though he said they have a good chance at success.
‘If we play well and to our ability, we will definitely be able to win the conference,’ Ganias said.
Despite the loss of 2003 graduates Jason Vinoles, John Paul Debbink and Noel Moossa, Ganias said he feels this year’s team will be stronger than last year’s.
‘There’s no doubt that we have more talent on the team this year,’ he said. ‘We have two great new freshmen and excellent leadership in Geoff [Wagner] and Adam [Siegel].’
Seniors Wagner and Siegel currently occupy the team’s number one and two positions, respectively.
The team played at the Harvard Invitational this past weekend and is also scheduled to play at the Brown Invitational this coming weekend. Although those are the only matches scheduled for the fall season, the players will continue practicing as a team until November. The team members will then practice on their own until spring preseason begins in January.
If the aforementioned still does not provide the team with enough experience to pull it all together, their annual spring break trip to Denver, Colo. likely will. The trip will serve not only as another opportunity to compete, but also a chance for the guys to bond more as a team.
However, Ganias said that more team building may not be necessary for the already tight-knit group.
‘Everyone is really close … we all get along really well,’ Ganias said.
Ganias has high confidence in head coach Jeremy Taylor, now in his fifth season at the helm for the Terriers, to help the team pull out a winning season.
‘He really wants us to work on being consistent and on making our opponents work hard for every point,’ he said.