By Mike Specht
Contributing Writer
The men’s tennis team will begin its season this weekend at the Navy Blue Invite, in the hopes that this season will bear more success than last year. The Bonnies have high anticipations for a new season after finishing 2-16 overall last season.
Coach Michael Bates is ready for the new season.
“It’s always tough competition,” said Bates about the team’s first tournament of the year.
The Bonnies’ three scheduled matches span Friday to Sunday. All players will get three doubles as well as three singles matches.
The team is looking forward to seeing how new freshmen Celso de vera Rehberger and Gabriel Cardenas will perform in their first collegiate competition. Likewise, Senior Luis Guevara stressed the importance of welcoming new players and talking to the new teammates, as they prepare for the start of the season.
“It’s important to talk to the freshmen, because that tournament puts a lot of pressure on them,” Guevara said.”There are good players [at this tournament] so it’s good to prove ourselves”.
The Bonnies will start out against Temple (4-2 last year in A-10) on Friday at 10am. Saturday they will battle host Navy (18-9 overall last year). The team will wrap up play with Delaware on Sunday.
Aside from Guevara, the team will also include senior Oscar Yanez. Juniors Javier Ortiz, Elliot Fanshell and Mihai Ene look to begin a strong seasons as well.
Coach Bates also stressed that the team plans to finish the season on a strong note.
“We want to turn it around this year and have a different outcome at the end,” Bates said.
With the addition of VCU and Butler to the Atlantic 10 this year, Bates picked VCU as the toughest competition this year in the A-10. They are currently nationally ranked 31st in Division I. Butler however, is in the middle of the conference and provides a more winnable matchup for the Bonnies.
Guevara hopes to not only improve individually, but also improve the play of his teammates as well.
“I want to try to make every other guy better with my attitude,” Guevara claimed.
Guevara has no specific goals for his last season as a Bonnie, stating wins as well as losses on the court are inevitable.
“You can’t control what you can do on the court,” Guevara said.
The Bonnies will continue their season with the SBU Fall Classic September 28-30, as they host Niagara and Roberts Wesleyan.
