Men's tennis fall season first weekend

Sep 18, 2023, 2:50 PM

So the men's tennis team had their first weekend of fall competition this past weekend in Winston Salem.

I usually don't pay a ton of mind to fall results since the dual season is still months away and sometimes the fall results end up meaning nothing but I am keeping more of an eye on it this year with the coaching change.

We have three freshmen who will be key this year, Noa Vukadin from Croatia, Marko Mesarovic from Austin, Texas and Stewart Aronson from Vancouver.

Our returning seniors Ryuhei Azuma and Spencer Whitaker did not play this weekend. Also grad transfer Max Damm from FGCU also did not play.

The other 6 on the roster played a full weekend. The results were not easy to find but I ended up finding them:

- Doubles went 0-9 overall on the weekend. Each combo went 0-3 against teams from Texas Tech, Cornell. Columbia and Michigan State. (Columbia is a top 15 tennis program)

Singles results

Noa Vukadin
lost to Olle Wallin (Texas Tech) 4-6 6-1 7-5
def Alex Kotzen (Columbia) 7-5 7-6
lost to Sebastien Collard (Michigan State) 6-1 7-6

Vukadin will likely be 1 or 2 this year and is getting experience playing vs 1 and 2 players. Being competitive vs a ranked player in Wallin and a win over Kotzen is pretty decent and shows that he can be an adequate #1 if needed and slide into #2 well.

Marko Mesarovic
def Lorenzo Esquici (Texas Tech) 6-3 6-4
lost to Henry Ruger (Columbia) 6-1 6-3
def Max Sheldon (Michigan State) 3-6 6-4 6-4

Another newcomer. Took down a player for Texas Tech who went 12-3 at #5 last year and beat MSU's #2 player from a year ago. Two good wins. Mesarovic should be able to plug into the lineup well.

Stewart Aronson
lost to Aman Sharma (Cornell) 7-5 6-4
def Hugo Hashimoto (Columbia) 5-7 6-1 7-5
def Reed Crocker (Michigan State) 6-1 6-2

The third Freshman. Solid win over Columbia's 3/4 player. Could be a more solid and important lineup piece than I expected this year.

Matt Pitts
lost to Reed Collier (Texas Tech) 2-6 6-2 6-4
def Sachin Palta (Columbia) 6-4 6-3
lost to Graydon Lair (Michigan State) 7-6 2-6 6-2

Maxwell Smith
def Felipe Pinzon (Cornell) 6-4 6-0
lost to Ishaan Ravichander (Columbia) 6-2 6-3
lost to Luke Baylis (Michigan State) 6-3 4-6 7-6

Trey Stinchcomb
lost to Samuel Paquette (Cornell) 4-6 7-6 7-5
lost to Roko Horvat (Columbia) 6-1 6-4
lost to Vikas Deo (Wake Forest) 6-2 6-3

Overall the team "lost" the hidden duals 4-3 to Columbia, 4-2 to Michigan State, 3-1 to Texas Tech and 3-2 to Cornell. But I am encouraged to see the decent results from the three Freshmen. Aronson and Mesarovic having winning weekends is the takeaway imo.

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I had to buy a 4th dvr just to make sure I don't miss

good move***

Men's tennis fall season first weekend

I had to buy a 4th dvr just to make sure I don't miss

good move***

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