Last year, the Colby men’s tennis team ended their season fourth in the NESCAC, marking one of the Mules’ best placements in the program’s history. Leading the Mules in their fantastic season, Head Coach Adam Reeb was ranked as the 24th-best Division III coach by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and was one of eight NESCAC coaches to be represented in the top 40.
Beyond Reebs’ leadership, another pivotal figure in the Mule’s historic season was ace Joey Barret `24, who ranked #5 in the Northeast and #18 nationally for singles at the end of the fall season. Barret compiled a 10-3 record throughout three events to reach the finals in both the Middlebury Invitational and Wallach Invitational while reaching the semifinals at the ITA Regionals.
After ending the fall season in high spirits last semester, the Colby men’s tennis team has maintained its form leading into the spring season. Last week, the Mules opened up their spring season against Connecticut College, ranked #11 in the NESCAC last year. The Mules fired on all cylinders, scoring 8-1, 8-1, and 8-2 in three doubles matches and a second wave of singles to end the match with a dominant 9-0 sweep.
With the Mules in spectacular form last week, they head into a doubleheader against non-NESCAC competition: the University of Southern Maine and Endicott College. Last year, the University of Maine had a 1-9 record, while Endicott College had a 9-11 record. The doubleheader saw the Mules host the University of Maine first at 9:30 a.m.
The match commenced with Colby’s Jake Cohen `25 and Sam Henry `24 taking on Huskies Zach Desmarais and Cole Ouellette. From the get-go, the Mules showcased dominance, leading with a quick succession of points to secure the first set. The two pairs of Mules continued their onslaught against a Huskies opposition that couldn’t keep up to secure the first win for the Mules by claiming an 8-0 set.
The doubles pair of Sandeep Alapati ’27 and Josh Kaplan ’25 followed suit, facing USM’s Ethan Rudnicki and Landon Weaver. The freshmen and junior pair for Colby quickly set the pace of the game in their favor. Within a short handful of sets, the Mules were once again able to clinch an 8-0 win.
With the Mules on a clear roll, the third and final doubles match saw Julian Cangieter-Hernandez `25 and Sriram Das `25 play against Zach Lull and Jake Singelais. As in the aforementioned sets, the Mules took the lead to start and never turned back.
With three dominant 8-0 wins against the Huskies, the Mules continued their utter dominance with the following six single sets. The next six consecutive sets once again saw the Mules clinch mostly straight, 6-0, with the exception of three. The overall tally of the match saw the Mules score 96 games relative to the Huskies’ six.
The Mules’ superb performance against USM was followed by the game against Endicott College, where Colby continued their success. The first doubles match again saw Colby’s Cohen and Henry showcase another dominant play. Despite facing Endicott College’s best, the Mules pair went without losing a game to end the tally at 8-0 once again.
The second match saw Colby’s star player, Barrett, start his first game in tandem with Paul Dandler `27, with the Mules once again claiming another straight victory.
Doubles #3 saw the Mules changing their pairings as Sandeep Alapati `27 and Aidan Kwong `26 took the court. Unfortunately for the pair, the Mules started on the backfoot as they took a while to find their tempo and chemistry. It didn’t help that their opponents were both left-handed players; a rarity in tennis. The result foresaw Endicott College capitalizing with a short-lived lead, only for the Mules to end the match 8-3.
The rest of the matches concluded as expected, with the Mules showcasing a strong performance to end their day with a 2-0 record, bolstering their overall record to 3-0.
Looking ahead, Colby is set to play against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who have a 3-2 record, at the Kennebec Valley Tennis Association courts in Augusta, Maine. The Mules hope to once again enhance their record to 4-0 before spring break, when they will head to California to face four schools: Occidental College, the University of Redlands, Chapman University, and Caltech.
~ Darin Gildea `27
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