Wheaton men’s tennis set out for their 2015 campaign after a snowy Massachusetts winter determined to not let it hold them back. The Lyons are lead by senior captain Lawrence Chan ’15, first-year Tyler Butler ’18, and a strong supporting cast of juniors: David Gassen ’16, Shreve Archer ’16, Will White ’16, Jimmy Beaton’16.
After a quick and strong 3-0 start with wins against UMass Dartmouth, Salve Regina, and Eastern Nazarene College, respectively, the Lyons have dropped 5 of 6 including 4 NEWMAC losses. “We had a great start to the season,” said Chan. “But we couldn’t keep the momentum we had and let the most important games get away from us.”
After playing through about half of their schedule, and currently holding a 5-5 record, the Lyons aimed to salvage the rest of the NEWMAC games including this past weekend’s win over Springfield. Wheaton closed out the match with a 5-4 finish. Chan’s performance in No. 3 singles was critical to the conference win. Help from Archer and sophomore Alden Zeff ’17 in 4 and 5 singles, respectively, also contributed to their victory against conference rivals. The Springfield Pride won two out of the three doubles matches but fell short on the day overall and couldn’t close out at home against the Lyons. Wheaton was able to leave Springfield with their first conference win of the season.
“This was a big game for us,” said Chan. “We’ve dropped the last 4 games and really needed to get back on our feet. We were all ready for this game.”
Looking ahead, the Lyons face Emerson this upcoming Wednesday, April 15th, for their next and final home conference contest. They will then close out their 2015 campaign with Oneota St., Colby Sawyer, and finally, Babson for their last conference match of the season. With the NEWMAC Tournament just weeks away the team hopes to close out the year with a winning record.