By Ryan Signorino
Sports Editor
St. Bonaventure University tennis gets back in the swing of things this spring, ultimately leading to the Atlantic 10 Tennis Championships on Apr. 25 through 28 in Lake Nona, Florida.
Both the men’s and women’s teams closed up their fall seasons in October at the ITA Regionals, with senior Gabriella Bowe winning her first round match. Bowe also competed in doubles with sophomore Kahlei Reisinger. While for the men, senior Victor Blanco played singles and paired with fellow senior Hector Martinez in doubles.
After the fall season, the teams’ goals went to A10’s in April. Despite the Christmas break, training continued, said Bowe.
“For most of us, it’s been a lot of personal training and working out since we all went home for break,” said Bowe. “But, as a team, we’ve jumped right into practices and workouts since the semester’s started.”
Tennis student-athletes at St. Bonaventure come from all around the world, such as India, Bahamas and Sweden. However, sophomore John Rutkowski said many of his teammates were able to go home and train over break.
“I can’t speak for the rest of my team as they were all across the globe doing their thing, but for me personally, I trained hard on and off court, including playing a tournament in New York City to prepare myself for the spring,” said Rutkowski.
Back from break, the teams competed in two matches this past weekend, against Loyola University on Jan. 19 and Navy on Jan. 20 for the women and Jan. 21 for the men. Despite both teams losing both matches, some positives came out, including three singles wins for the men against Loyola.
“I think it was a good opportunity to gauge where we are for the season and things we need to work on,” said Rutkowski. “We got to see a lot of different doubles combinations in action, which is also interesting.”
Bowe said, despite the losses, the attitude around the team was still positive, which is encouraging to see and something she hopes continues throughout the season.
“I think for our upcoming matches we just need to continue to work hard and compete well,” said Bowe. “Based on the way we’ve started off, I think the entire team is poised for a strong season, and I find it very encouraging and exciting.”
Despite only competing in doubles matches, Rutkowski said it was very helpful for him to lose the jitters and nervousness about starting off the season, adding that being mentally strong is a big aspect of what the team needs to focus on.
“I think the team, as a whole, needs to work on mental fortitude in matches more than anything,” said Rutkowski. “The mental aspect of tennis is the most important at the highest level.”
The men’s team returns many strong athletes from last season, including Blanco, Martinez and sophomores Lukas Linden Malmberg and Indra Patwardhan.
“I expect Hector to go out with a bang this season,” said Rutkowski. “He’s always been a really solid player, and having gone 2-0 this weekend in singles, I think it should really help him a lot with momentum for the rest of the season. Also Indra looked really good this weekend until he got injured so hopefully he’ll make a quick recovery and be back in soon.”
The team is also aided by four freshman: Logan Cross, Darrel Harxhi, Jonni Heikkila and Joe Blakely, who also competes for cross country. Heikkila joins the team after transferring to St. Bonaventure this semester.
With only six spots on both singles and doubles, the new additions and large team provides a lot of competition within players, making everyone better, said Rutkowski.
“We have a really big roster this year, so it means a lot more inter-team competition,” said Rutkowski. “It also means we have a lot more depth in case someone gets injured or things like that.”
Bowe headlines the women’s team, joined by fellow seniors Francesca Chin and Dominique Mortier. Junior walk-on Eleanor Gerhard continues play during her first season, and freshman transfer Buse Gunay will add more competition to a small girl’s roster.
“It’s always great to have a new addition that adds such depth to our team,” said Bowe. “I think [Gunay] joining our team will result in some positive results throughout the season.”
While the men have the weekend off, the women will be in action Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26 and Jan. 27 at the St. Bonaventure Fitness Center. The University of Akron comes to Olean on Friday, Jan. 26 at 10 a.m., while the University of Bucknell will take on the Bonnies Saturday, Jan. 27 at 12 p.m.
signorra15@bonaventure.edu
