By Harrison Leone
Contributing Writer
The nascent men’s tennis team returned from Maryland this past weekend after facing the Naval Academy, Temple and Delaware in the Navy Blue Invitational Tournament in Annapolis.
The Bonnies host Robert Wesleyan College and Niagara University for the SBU Fall Classic Sept. 28-30.
“We looked okay, not great, but not bad,” Head coach Michael Bates said of the tournament where no official team records or scoring were kept during play, but players competed for individual flight championships.
Friday saw the Bonnies face fellow A-10 member Temple. St. Bonaventure was able to secure 4 victories in 7 matches against the Owls. On Saturday, SBU faced their hosts, Navy, and went 1-12 against the Midshipmen.
Two freshmen, Gabriel Cardenas and Celso de Vera Rehberger, earned their first wins in collegiate competition at the tournament. De Vera Rehberger prevailed over Delaware’s Ryan Kent in singles play, while Cardenas and junior Elliot Fanshel bested Jason Derene and Nolan Gelman in doubles.
Also in doubles play, the Bonaventure duo of Luis Guevera and Oscar Yanez made it to the final doubles match before falling to the Blue Hens’ Troy Beneck and Adam Lawton on Sunday.
Guevera and Yanez had defeated both Navy and Temple before falling to the Blue Hens.
Following the Fall Classic, St. Bonaventure travels to Yale in New Haven, Connecticut to participate in the Yale Tournament from October 5th-7th.
A-10 Conference play does not begin for SBU until late February, when the Bonnies will host Duquesne University. Other notable late-season matchups include Virginia Tech on February 15th and Army on March 23rd.
“We have some pretty good match-ups coming,” Bates said. “Hopefully we can get some good preparation in.”
Bates, a three-time A-10 men’s tennis Coach of the Year recipient, noted the ITA tournament as the marquee matchup of the year.
“It’s definitely the big one for the year” Bates said.
The tournament, also held at Yale, takes place from October 18th-23rd, and is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Northeast Regional Championship. It is one of over 80 ITA Regional Championships spanning the country and involves over 8,000 student athletes.
Bates stressed because the season is still in its early stages that there is still much to do in the way of figuring out exactly where the team needs the most improvement.
“We still need to get better consistency and with serve percentages,” Bates said. “We need to try to be a little more aggressive; It’s hard to judge it all right now.”
