Men’s tennis gets first win for program

Men’s tennis is off to a good start after picking up their first win of the spring season on March 29, against Becker College.

Led by Coach Andres Limas, the Trailblazer’s record is 1-0 for the spring season. Last fall they dropped two matches against Union and Springfield College, leaving them with an overall record of 1-2.

“So far this spring, with the addition of three new players, we had success with our win against Becker,” said freshman captain Mitch Mabardy.

During the match, junior Daniel Nesti earned a pair of victories for the team. Nesti won in the number one singles slot 6-3, 6-2.

Nesti also won in the doubles slot along side of senior Joe Whitehouse 8-5.

Freshman Taylor Krowitz, freshman Brendan Peltier, and freshman Mitch Mabardy also earned single points during the match against Becker.

The team is led by Limas, an Ecuadorian tennis pro who was ranked as one of the top 50 tennis players in the country before emigrating to the United States in 2005.

Each player on the team is looking to get and maintain a successful record for the first men’s tennis season since 1989.

Mabardy is very positive about the team’s future.

“Overall our team has potential to win matches as demonstrated against Becker,” he said.

Since the beginning of the spring season, the men’s tennis team gained three more players , ultimately adding up to a total of eight players on their roster. Only one is graduating in May, which means the team is young and has time for improvement.

“Among the positives: we are young,” Mabardy explained. “We only have one player, Joe Whitehouse, graduating this year.”

Of the team’s eight members, five are freshmen. They are joined by sophomore Armory Galili and junior Daniel Nesti.

Freshman Brendan Peltier agreed with Mabardy that the team has room to improve and develop their skills.

“We are a new program and have a lot of room to improve,” Peltier said.

Some of the aspects Peltier would like to focus on improving in is the individual skills of each player.

“Collectively as a team we could improve on the performance in double matches as well as the individual performance in the single matches,” he explained.

Mabardy agrees with his teammate, saying, “Our team is focusing on becoming better developed players.”

Mabardy continued, “I believe that with the help from our coach our team will become an overall well developed team.”

Peltier also had nothing but positive things to say about their coach. “We are so lucky to have our coach because he truly is an unbelievable player and teacher. He is guiding us in the right direction very quickly.”

With a strong coach and determination, the team believes they can have a successful season.

“Throughout our season you will see the team gradually build and it will become a successful sport here at MCLA very quick,” Peltier said.

Mabardy is also optimistic about the future of the team saying, “Overall I think our season is going well so far and with two of the harder teams on our schedule behind us, I am feeling good about the rest of our season.”

Mabardy and the rest of the team have a goal of finishing their season with a .500 record. “This would require 6 wins,” Mabardy said.

The team has six more matches left in the season and three of them will be home matches.

by Kayla Koumjian
Staff Writer

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