Men’s tennis opens its season at Navy

The Saint Joseph University’s men’s tennis team began their spring season on Jan. 28  in Annapolis, Maryland. The team lost to the Naval Academy Midshipmen with a final score of 1-6. The Hawks won one singles match with junior Peter Dewitt. According to Head Coach Ian Crookendon, Dewit played a consistent match.

St Joe’s lost the rest of their matches tothe Midshipmen. The Hawks had a long break from competing, unlike their opponents who had already played three teams before playing the Hawks.

“There is a difference between being condition fit and match fit. We are condition-fit, but not match-fit yet,” said Crookenden.

Sophomore singles and doubles player Dan Tan stated that Navy is a solid, consistent team that already had more practice than them. Tan said that the team was physically ready to play the Midshipmen, but due to the break in competition, the Hawks lacked experience.

Tan, who was crowned champion in November 2016 in both singles and doubles, did not feel fully prepared for the  match. Physically, he felt trained, but mentally, he experienced a lack of focus in both matches. He used this opening day as practice for the upcoming season.

“It was a good way to open up the season and get the nerves out of the way,” said Tan.

Senior captain Kyle Chalmers also had a positive attitude with the opening match.

“I’m enjoying it. I was jumping around before my match on Saturday,” said Chalmers.

He hopes to bring forth the same energy and dedication that was present last year. For the 2015-2016 season, Chalmers was named the Most Outstanding player as well as being nominated to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team and the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team. This past November, Chalmers was the singles champion at the Navy Invitational.

Chalmers feels humbled to be the captain for the Hawks. He states that the team consists of talented, dynamic players with whom he feels confident in. They have been practicing diligently with techniques that help them succeed.

“We have a good team with lots of depth. We know what we have to do to bring it to the next level,” Chalmers said.

With the initial match finished, the Hawks are ready to start the spring season. They will travel to Pittsburgh this coming weekend to compete against Duquesne University and Carnegie Mellon University. Last season, the Hawks achieved a victory against the Duquesne Dukes for the first time in a while. Moving forward, the team hopes to solidify another win against the team and start the season out strongly.

For the long-term, Crookenden believes that the team has the talent and work ethic to win fouth place in the Conference this year.