BY ANDREW HALE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The St. Bonaventure men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in their final tournament of the fall at the Bloomsburg-Invitational this past weekend.
Both the men’s and women’s teams found success in Bloomsburg. The men went 7-2 in doubles and were victorious 12 times in singles competition. The women went 8-1 in doubles play while collecting 13 singles wins.
In the first round of doubles for the men, freshmen Hugo Cochlin and Rasmus Egehus defeated Lafayette’s doubles team by a score of 6-2. Freshman Anargha Ganguly and junior Norka Sanchez were also triumphant in the first round winning 6-2 over Frostburg. The last Bonnies win in the first round came via a 6-3 win over Lafayette by freshman Connor Turner and senior Luke Riemann.
Turner and Riemann picked up another win for the Bonnies in the second round of doubles as they defeated Lafayette 6-3. As for the third and final round of doubles action, Cochlin and Egehus got their second win at the Bloomsburg-Invitational winning in a close match against St. Francis 7-6 (4). Ganguly and Sanchez, as well as Turner and Riemann, secured the final two victories for the Bonnies in doubles action.
The men’s team also saw success in singles play as they went 5-2 in the first round. Cochlin, Egehus, Turner, Sanchez and Reimann, all tallied wins for the Bonnies in the opening round. Ganghuly, Reimann and Turner also secured wins in the second round. In the third round, senior Filip Morawski, Ganghuly, Sanchez and Turner all added to the Bonnies’ win total in Bloomsburg.
The men’s team, who went 19-9 at the Bloomsburg-Invitational, used the tournament as a marker of success.
“I thought we did fairly well at the tournament this weekend,” St. Bonaventure tennis Head Coach Michael Bates said. “Overall, we had a solid performance at the Bloomsburg-Invitational. There are a lot of things we’ve been working on and that we are getting better at.
On the women’s side of the tournament, the Bonnies women picked up right where the men left off.
During the first round of doubles, freshman Isabella Venter and junior Anastasia Gubanova, who have been paired up throughout the tournament season, furthered their successful fall as they won their first match 6-3 over Lafayette. Sophomore Alexandra Jansson and Senior Amelia Haley defeated their opponents from Frostburg 6-2. Freshmen Kelly Barnes and Kashish Bote secured the third victory for the Bonnies, defeating Slippery Rock 6-4 to close out the first round.
Gubanova and Venter along with Haley and Jansson gave the Bonnies second-round wins by beating Slippery Rock and Lafayette respectively. In the final round, Gubanova and Venter as well as Haley and Jansson completed their undefeated doubles run by winning over Lafayette and Slippery Rock. Barnes and Bote also won their third-round match 6-3 over Lafayette.
Like the men, the women’s team also had double-digit wins in singles action.
Bote, Gubanova, Haley, Jansson and Venter all secured wins for the Bonnies in the first round of singles. In the second round, Bote, Haley, Jansson, and Venter got their second wins in singles while Gubanova fell in a close match 5-4 (5), 2-4, 11-9 to Bloomsburg. For the final round of the Bloomsburg-Invitational Barnes, Gubanova, Haley, Jansson and Venter all helped the team push their win total to 21 with wins in the third round.
With the conclusion of the Bloomsburg-Invitational, comes the end of the fall and tournament season for Bonaventure tennis. While there are three months before the start of the season, Bates believes the Bonnies are going to be well prepared for the start of the season.
“We’ve used these tournaments to figure out what areas our players need to improve in and that’s what we are going to attack over the course of the next few weeks,” Bates said. “Now that we have some video of each player during their matches, it’ll help the players to see what they are doing, visually, and will help them improve before the spring.”
For the regular season, the team has its sights set on being successful in their championship at the end of the season.
“Our goal is to do well at our championships, that’s what we focus on every year,” Bates said. “It’s a long spring season so we want to build up and maintain college-level performances until the end of the year.”
The St. Bonaventure men’s and women’s tennis teams open the 2023 spring season in Baltimore, MD against Loyola (MD) on Friday, January 20.
halea22@bonaventure.edu
