Los Angeles, CA - The Colby College Men's Tennis Team took down the Occidental Tigers at Occidental College on Monday, March 21st. After a long but productive weekend of travel and practice, including a fun trip to see the USC vs Arizona tennis match, the Mules were fired up to win. Leading the charge was the 3rd doubles duo of Sam Henry and Max Schuermann, who got the sole doubles point for the Mules with an 8-1 victory. Jan Wenger and James Bogdanovic fought gamely but ultimately fell 8-5 at 2nd doubles. Joey Barrett and Jake Cohen had a seesaw battle at 1st doubles which saw leads come and go, with the final result a very close 8-7(3) loss. 

Down 1-2 after doubles, the Mules rebounded in a huge way to win 5 out of the 6 singles matches. First match completed was Barrett's emphatic straight sets win at 2nd singles. Fueled by supportive teammates from the sidelines, Cohen managed to escape a tight second set comeback by his opponent to also win in straight sets at the 3rd position. Schuermann and Henry soon followed up with victories at 4th and 6th respectively. 

The last match on was a tight straight sets win for Ben Powis at the 5th singles position. Battling a sore shoulder, Powis battled through, improvising with some angled forehands and his signature backhand down the line laser. 

For Cohen, who came into this spring season ranked #13 in singles in the Northeast by the ITA, he remains undefeated in singles so far this season. He has been a rock solid #3 singles thus far, and like the rest of the team, still looks to improve with each match.

It was an enthralling first win of the spring season for the Mules. "Today's match was a team effort," said Barrett. "I'm proud of the way in which we fought back from a deficit after doubles. I'm fired up to compete again tomorrow. Let's go Mules!"

The Mules next take on Chapman University at Chapman's Tennis Courts in Orange, CA on Tuesday March 22nd. Look for updates from the Colby Tennis Twitter, Instagram and Athletics Page. 


Scores:

Doubles:

Matt O'Connor/Ridley Potter (O) def. Joey Barrett/Jake Cohen (C) 8-7(3)
Seth Lipe/Brett Miller (O) def. Jan Wenger/James Bogdanovic (C)  8-5
Sam Henry/Max Schuermann (C) def. Zach Haas/Christopher Swanson (O)  8-1

Singles:

Matt O'Connor def. Jan Wenger (C)  6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Joey Barrett (C) def. Michael Abagyan (O)  6-3, 6-0
Jake Cohen (C) def. Sam Coan (O)  6-2, 7-5
Max Schuermann (C) def. David Zhang (O)  6-2, 6-2
Ben Powis (C) def. Seth Lipe (O)  6-2, 7-5
Sam Henry (C) def. Brett Miller (O)  6-2, 6-3