MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan University men's tennis team has earned the sixth seed in this weekend's NESCAC Tournament to be played Friday through Sunday (May 6-8) on the campus of Wesleyan.
The top eight teams based on regular-season round-robin conference play qualified for the tournament. Quarterfinal matches will be held at Wesleyan University (primary site) and Amherst College (secondary site) on Friday, May 6. The semifinal and championship matches will be played at Wesleyan on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8, respectively.
The Cardinals (7-8, 5-5 NESCAC) will face #3 seed Williams (12-2, 9-1 NESCAC) in the quarterfinals on Friday morning (9 AM). Wesleyan fell to Williams, 7-2, in the regular season and the teams have never played each other in the NESCAC Tournament.
Wesleyan is heading into the postseason on the uptick, having won four of their last five matches including two wins over Top 25 foes. Their recent run included a 5-4 win over then-No. 14 Brandeis at home following by a 6-3 triumph over No. 24 Colby the following weekend.
As a team, the Cardinals are 11-5 at #1 and #2 in doubles this season with
Peter Anker '22 and
Ben Mitchell '24 teaming up all year at #1 while
Zach Lieb '22 and
Harry Portnoy are the established #2 squad. The #3 team is expected to be
Clay Gaieski '23 and
Max Lustgarten '25.
In singles, Anker has been one of the best in the NESCAC all season, heading into the postseason with a 12-3 mark as the Cardinals' #1 throughout the year. He owns some impressive wins, including three-set triumphs over the Williams' Chase Cohen, Tufts' Isaac Gorelik and Brandeis' Jeff Chen. He has won five of his last six matches and has seen six of his last seven matches go into a third set.
Other contributors in the lineup include Mitchell at #3, who is 11-4 on the season in dual matches. Lieb is 8-6 at #2 this season while the rest of the lineup will feature Portnoy at #4 and either Lustgarten or
Max Lee '22 at #5/#6.
The conference champion will receive an automatic berth into the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
