This weekend posed the biggest challenge of the season for both the men's and women's tennis teams. The Lions made the trek to William Smith College in upstate New York to participate in the Wilson-Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Championship and represented the College well, advancing into the later rounds of play.
The College's women's tennis team extended its impressive New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) winning streak to 101 straight victories this week with a win against Ramapo College (3-1). This NJAC streak began over 20 years ago in 1982. The Roadrunners were not able to be victorious in a single match against the Lions, who concluded the day going 9-0 in doubles and singles play.
The men's and women's tennis teams started off the season with a bang this weekend at the Lion's Fall Kickoff Tournament. The College squared off against New York University (NYU) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in both singles and doubles action.
Freshman tennis player Justin Cook is pretty happy with his move to the College this season. After transferring from the University of Connecticut last year, he hasn't looked back. "It got frustrating that I wasn't playing much, because I really enjoy (tennis)," Cook said.
I bet you didn't know the College's women's tennis team hasn't lost a match in 22 years. While football, field hockey and lacrosse teams check out their full-page spreads in the paper and watch the Lions Stadium fill up with fans, members of the women's tennis team quietly pickup their racquets and add another win to their amazing 99-0 record.
The Lions defeated New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Montclair State University, 8-1, for the women's tennis program's 100th consecutive NJAC win. The unbelievable streak began in 1982 when women's tennis was first introduced to the league.
The Lions women's tennis squad defeated Rutgers University-Newark Scarlet Raiders, 9-0, Thursday. In their first home match in almost a month, the Lions dominated the court. They boasted shutouts in three doubles and five singles matches and achieved their 98th consecutive win of more than two seasons.
The women's tennis team continued to roll with a 9-0 win over Ramapo College on Sunday. The victory brings the Lions to 2-0 on the year and extends their New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) winning streak to 97 matches. In sweeping all nine matches, the Lions posted seven shutouts, including all three doubles matches.
The year could not have started out much better for the women's tennis team. The women started off their dual-match season with an impressive 9-0 win over New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponent Kean University on Tuesday. The win was the Lions' 96th straight NJAC victory.
The women's tennis team dominated as the College hosted both Carnegie Mellon University and New York University in an eight-player singles draw and a four-team doubles draw this weekend. The action commenced at the sparsely populated College's Tennis Center located in the heart of campus.
During summer break, the College announced that it had forfeited five men's tennis matches and all 34 games of the softball season due to a secondary violation in each sport. The College self-reported the violations to the NCAA after one player from each team was academically ineligible to compete.
The Men's Tennis team lost in their final dual-match of the season, 4-3 to Drew University. Senior captain Marc Hill was victorious for the Lions in first singles, defeating Drew's JD Spina 6-4, 6-0. The win gave Hill a 13-3 record for the year in dual-matches.
