Tigers suffer tough loss against Michigan and Indiana

The men’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss against Indiana University this past Saturday, Feb. 4, following a 6-3 defeat in its season opener against the University of Michigan on Feb. 2.

The Tigers were able to secure two points after two single match wins, but the Hoosiers clinched the remaining five, after winning the doubles point and four single victories.

Senior Tom Colautti, who had a single win in Michigan alongside junior Kial Kaiser, described his team’s hopeful outlook as they transitioned from a loss against Michigan to Saturday’s match against Indiana the day before.

“As far as the mindset going into tomorrow, the feeling I get from the rest of the team is that they haven't really beaten themselves up about the Michigan loss, which is great. They all seem to be in happy spirits, so that bodes well for the match against Indiana,” Colautti said. “Personally, I'm curious to see how we stack up against them, as Michigan is a top-20-ranked team and so it was hard to judge our own strength against them. The match tomorrow should hopefully be more manageable so we will be able to better gauge where we stand and what areas we need to work on. It's still early in the season so the result tomorrow isn't too important, but it would be very nice to come away from this trip with a win before going into a stretch of home matches.”

Junior Luke Gamble also recounted the enthusiastic anticipation with which they awaited the match this past Saturday, saying, “Tomorrow we anticipate we will have a better chance to show our grit and fight. We are all fired up to get the first win and beat an Indiana team, which we haven't always had the best relationship with. I know the guys will be ready to take it to the Hoosiers and get our first win of the season.”

Gamble is a senior opinion columnist for the Daily Princetonian.

Though the team did not earn its first win, Gamble’s brief identification of the team’s main goals reveals a collective desire for broader successes throughout the season.

“In the short term, we'd love to reclaim the ECAC title next week on our home courts down at Jadwin. Obviously, we'd love to win an Ivy title. It's been a long time for our program, and given our mix of experience and incoming freshmen, now is the time. It's a tough league however, so having enough good wins during our tough schedule in order to qualify for the NCAA tournament again would be a huge success. My partner Alex [Day] and I are also working towards a bid into the NCAA doubles championships in May,” Gamble said.

Reflecting on the solidarity built between his teammates in the past year, Gamble added, “By and large though I think a lot of the guys just want to enjoy this special year together. This team has grown really close over the last 12 months and I know it's just going to be a blast playing and competing with these guys. We have a lot of home matches this year, which will be pretty special for us.”

The Tigers are preparing to face off against Rice University in their first home match, scheduled for Feb. 10 at Jadwin Gymnasium.