By Jonathan Sawyer
Staff Writer
The men’s tennis team’s route to an Atlantic 10 Championship was cut short at the hands of Duquesne, 4-0. The Bonnies could not get rolling after losing the doubles point early. During singles, Duquesne just kept going, winning three quick matches to punch its ticket to the next round.
The Bonnies have been playing with a young lineup all year, and at the A-10 Championships, nerves got the best of them.
“The freshmen needed more experience; they were nervous because it was their first time playing the A-10’s” junior Eduardo Irizarry said.
Going into the A-10 Championships is a totally different environment because of the fierce competition.
“They weren’t ready to face that intensity,” Irizarry said about his young team.
Eduardo wasn’t able to finish in his doubles or singles match because Duquesne already eliminated the Bonnies in two out of three matches in doubles. They then took three singles matches to solidify the win. Irizarry says that he was playing one of his best matches but just wasn’t able to finish due to early elimination.
As the Bonnies struggled all season due to injuries and not having the veteran experience they needed to succeed, Irizarry believes that his team needs to have fun and relax going into their matches.
Irizarry will be a senior leader next season and hopes he can be successful but also mentor younger players.
“Getting ready every year, you learn something new for the next year, and I know next year is my senior year and my last year, so I hope I can lead these guys to not get so nervous and just have fun and just try to do the best they can do,” Irizarry said.
Hristov believes he needs to work harder in the offseason to make his team better and get more experience playing matches, he said.
“Everything, the physical, technical, and mental part, run more, play more matches, and focus on the little things that will add up to something great,” Hristov said.
Hristov went on to say he believes if the freshman class just plays more matches to get the experience it needs to, it will be competitive.
The Bonnies ended their season with a 4-14 overall record and 1-3 in A-10 conference play.
The Bonnies will hope to build off of what they struggled on from this year and like Hristov and Irizarry both said, getting the experience they need to be a successful team will be a boost for the Bonnies.
sawyerjp14@bonaventure.edu
