By. Jonathan Sawyer
Staff Writer
The men’s tennis team closed out its regular season this past weekend, facing LaSalle on Saturday and Saint Joseph’s on Sunday.
It started off the weekend with a win over LaSalle seven matches to zero. The Bonnies went down in sets 5-2 to Saint Joe‘s on Sunday.
“I honestly believe we were a better team,” Coach Michael Bates said. “We wanted to come out there and play outside a little bit to get used to the outdoors.”
Playing outside for the first this season was a challenge, but the team overcame it by defeating LaSalle. Before Saturday’s match, the team had yet to play outdoors since the fall semester. Going into the Atlantic 10 Championships, it is going to be a pace change, since it is all outside for them.
The conditions of Saturday’s match were not the best.
“Super windy day, tough to handle, but we handled it well,” Bates said.
Coach Bates said he feels his team needs to be mentally prepared when going into the A-10 Championships next week.
“I think it is more mental than anything. We play so much indoors, to go outdoors is a little bit mental, a little bit stronger,” said Bates.
The Bonnies came out strong on Saturday, but fell short on Sunday as they couldn’t outplay St. Joes.
Bates said he believes that the doubles matches are vital to start off and get the team going.
“Doubles is only worth one point and singles is worth six, but that one point in doubles is so valuable going into singles, because you are either up one to nothing or down one to nothing,” Bates said.
The Bonnies went 2-2 in their last four games of the season. Starting off slow and making a big run towards the end will help the Bonnies when going into the A-10 Championships.
Bates said he also believes having junior Eduardo Irizzary back and healthy will help the team.
“He struggled for a little bit there. He had a shoulder injury, and he almost didn’t play for three to three and half weeks. He is starting to come back from that now,” Bates said.
As the Bonnies closed out the season with an overall record of 4-13 and 1-3 in conference play heading to the A-10 Championships, it is going to be tough because they might play a team that they haven’t seen this season, due to the fact that not everybody in the conference plays each other.
The Bonnies will travel to Mason, Ohio, to play in the A-10 Championships next week starting on Thursday April 23rd.
