ORLANDO, Fla. – In a competitive, back-and-forth match throughout between two nationally-ranked teams, it was No. 21 Kenyon who pulled out several crucial singles matches decided in tiebreaks as the Lords defeated the No. 13 Wesleyan men's tennis team 5-4 on Friday afternoon. After two straight days of canceled matches, the weather turned around and allowed Wesleyan (1-1) to finish their second of four scheduled matches on this Spring Break Trip.
Starting with singles play, it was Wesleyan who jumped out to an early lead thanks to
Peter Anker '22 who dominated his match at #1 against Luis Andres Platas, dropping just three total games between the two sets in a 6-1, 6-2 win that put the Cardinals up 1-0 early.
From that point forward, however, the Lords seized control of the match with some clutch performances in tiebreaks. Rakkan Audeh started with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-3 three set win over
Max Lustgarten '25 at #5 while Eric Zhang used 7-6 (7-3) first set win to carry momentum into a 6-3 second set victory that clinched the #4 match against
Harry Portnoy '24.
Rishil Kondapaneni added another point for Kenyon at #2 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over
Zach Lieb '22 while Henry Wessel put Kenyon on the verge of sealing the match victory with a 7-5, 6-4 win at #6 over
Max Lee '22. The match-sealing point came at #3 singles as
Ben Mitchell '24 gave Thomas Kallarakal everything he could handle but ultimately it was the Lords who pulled out another tight win 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.
Heading into doubles with the match already in-hand, Wesleyan still managed to fight and show determination to the end as the Cardinals sealed victories in all three doubles matches. Anker and Mitchell combined for a 8-3 win over Christian Picot and Christophe LeBlanc at #1 while Lieb and Portnoy scored an 8-3 win for themselves over Kondapaneni and Eric Zhang at #2.
Much like the majority of singles play, the final doubles match came down to the wire but this time the Cardinals managed a win as Lustgarten and Glay Gaieski '23 took down Matias Mauviel and Angelo Vidal 8-7 (7-2) in a tiebreak to secure a fourth consolation point for Wesleyan despite the defeat.
Wesleyan finishes the Spring Break Trip with a Saturday match against No. 23 Southwestern. This is the first time the two sides have ever faced one another.
