MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan men's tennis team heads into the postseason having won four of their last five matches, closing out the regular season with a 9-0 win over Conn. College on Senior Day Saturday from the John Wood Memorial Tennis Courts. Wesleyan (7-8, 5-5 NESCAC) has now won nine straight matches over the Camels (5-11, 0-9 NESCAC) and will play host to the NESCAC Tournament next weekend.
Wesleyan swept all three doubles matches in rather convincing fashion, as
Zach Lieb '22 and
Harry Portnoy '24 opened the dual match with an 8-3 win over Aaron Fleishman and David Poudrier at #2. In the #1 match, it was
Peter Anker '22 and
Ben Mitchell '24 winning for the fifth straight time, defeating Henry de Coster and Evan Aoki-Goldsmith by a score of 8-4.
Max Lustgarten '25 and
Clay Gaieski '23 finished doubles play off with an 8-5 triumph at #3 over Julian Tien and Jules Tyalor-Kerman.
Singles play was much of the same as Wesleyan won in straight sets in five of the six matches, dropping three games or less in all 10 of those sets combined. Lieb and Mitchell both played to a flawless 6-0, 6-0 sweep at #2 and #3, respectively. Anker was next to finish at #1, toppling de Coster 6-2, 6-1 as Anker is now 12-3 in dual match singles play this spring.
Max Lee '22 won his match on Senior Day at #6, toppling Sean Jenkins 6-1, 6-3. Lustgarten picked up his second win in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Taylor-Kerman at #5. Portnoy was tested in his match at #4, winning the first set 6-3 before dropping the second set in a tiebreak to Poudrier, setting up a third set super tiebreak. In that third set, it was Portnoy who bounced back with a dominant 10-2 win to take the match and finish off a clean 9-0 sweep of the Camels.
Wesleyan has locked up the #6 seed heading into the 2022 NESCAC Tournament, which will be held at Wesleyan. The Cardinals' first round opponent will be determined on the final day of dual match play, which is slated for tomorrow. Opponent and match time on Friday (Quarterfinal round) will be determined later tomorrow.
