MIDDLETOWN, CT. – The Wesleyan men's tennis team fell to 12
th ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears in their first of two matches against NESCAC competition this weekend. The Cardinals were defeated by Bowdoin 6-3 for their 2
nd straight loss after starting NESCAC play 2-0. The match was played indoors at Bacon Field House due to the rain, but it didn't seem to effect the Cardinals early as they took two of the three doubles matches before dropping five of the six singles matches to fall 6-3. The No. 12 Bowdoin Polar Bears improve to 8-1 (3-0 NESCAC) on the year while the No. 18 Wesleyan Cardinals fall to 6-5 (2-3 NESCAC).
Wesleyan started out hot, claiming two of three doubles matches to take an early lead. This included a hard-fought victory at #1 by
Ben Mitchell '24 and
JT Bilski '26 who managed to squeak out an 8-7 win to give the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play. The Cardinals struggled in a singles play, only winning one of the six matches. They were competitive in most of them, with
Max Lustgarten '25 gutting out their only victory in a three-set battle 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 over Bowdoin's Jack Flores at #5.
In doubles the Cards looked good, taking the first doubles match of the day to obtain an early lead.
Harry Collomb '26 and
Chase Kasday '26 combined to take down Reid Staples and Flores 8-4 at #2, but the Polar Bears came right back with a win of their own at #3 as Evan Fortier and Mark Kneiss topped Wesleyan's Lustgarten and
Tai MacDonald '26. Then came the deciding doubles match at #1 where Bilski and Mitchell were able to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead heading into singles play with a 8-7 win.
In singles the Polar Bears took control, claiming five of the six matches on way to their 6-3 victory over the Cardinals. Wesleyan's lone singles victory came from Lustgarten who managed to outlast Flores in a three-set thriller that ended 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to get Wesleyan on the board. Macdonald at #4 (5-7, 5-7), Collomb at #3 (6-7, 1-6), and Bilski at #1 (3-6, 4-6) all had competitive matches, but could not get over the hump. The other two Cardinals to compete in singles matches were Mitchell at #2 (3-6, 1-6) and
Harry Portnoy '24 at #6 (0-6, 1-6), who were downed by their competition.
Wesleyan will return to the court on April 2
nd where they will compete in another home NESCAC match this time against No. 20 Colby starting at 10 am.