Men’s tennis returns home with six flight championships

The Elizabethtown College men’s tennis team is off to a successful beginning after the Blue Jays came home from the King’s College Invitational with six flight championships on Sept. 19 and 20.

The team had a well-rounded group of returning players to lead the team to positive results. “This year we have a large group of returning players, junior Nathan Dowling said. “This itself is a strength for us because of the experience the team has as a whole, not only in terms of skill level, but regarding knowledge of the game and tactics we incorporate as a team.”

Four competitors from Etown were named champion twice including: senior Evan Hinkley, Dowling, sophomore Michael Yost and first-year Nick Strobel.

Hinkley and Strobel worked together in No. 3 doubles to conquer two athletes from Susquehanna University. Susquehanna’s Ryan Van Valin and Alex Dove could not outplay Hinkley and Strobel in the championship match, which ended with a score of 8-4.

In No. 2 doubles, Dowling and Yost defeated a Misericordia duo, 8-6, in the semifinals. The pair from Etown, which won the No. 3 doubles competition last year at the same event, took down Alex Cocolas and Nick Beal from Susquehanna with a score of 8-2.

Juniors Alex Machalick and Ryan Caris made their way to the championships of the no. 1 doubles. They made it past a pair from Misericordia in the semifinals, but were knocked off by George Parkhurst and Nathan Karl from King’s, 8-4.

Yost faced Marywood’s Brendan Brown and swept him 6-0, 6-0 in No. 3 single semifinals. In finals, Yost faced Deal and earned the victory, 6-1, 6-4. Machalik fell in the finals in No. 1 singles, while Caris fell in No. 2 singles in the final match.

In No. 4 singles, Hinkley worked his way up to the finals after winning two matches. In his second match against Cocolas in the semi-finals, Hinkley moved on after winning a super tiebreaker to reach the finals. He defeated a player from King’s to take home the title. At No. 5 and No. 6 singles, Dowling and Strobel each earned a victory with a 3-0 record, respectively.

Dowling has high hopes for the team’s future. “I think just getting to know each other and becoming more of a single unit will be beneficial for the team,” he said. “Building chemistry as a team will really contribute well later in the year.”

The Blue Jays will finish their fall schedule during the first week of October at the USTA-ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Fredericksburg, Va.

Karley Ice
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Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get them in front of Issuu's millions of monthly readers. Title: Senior Edition, Author: The Etownian, Name: Senior Edition, Length: 10 pages, Page: 1, Published: 2020-04-30