Box Score

Medford, MA - The Colby Men's Tennis team continued their 2024-25 fall season over the weekend at the ITA Regional Tournament hosted by Tufts University. The tournament featured many of the best players from across the northeast region. Colby was well-represented with 2 players in the A singles draw, 4 players in the B singles draw, and 3 doubles teams in the 48-team doubles draw. 

Success emerged right from the start, with 2 doubles teams winning their opening rounds Friday morning. Coming off of a strong opening weekend at Middlebury last weekend, senior captain Jake Cohen and first-year Marco Ziets-Segura paired up again, defeating Williams opponents in the first round 8-4 in convincing fashion. The pair then fell to Babson opponents and the #4 seeds 3-8 in a match filled with thrilling doubles rallies. Sophomore Paul Dandler and first-year Diego Sosa were also victorious in their first round, defeating Trinity opponents 8-5. The duo then pulled off an upset win, defeating Williams opponents and the #6 seeds 8-5 in the second round, showcasing tremendous serving and return of service play. Dandler and Sosa ultimately fell in the round of 16, losing a heartbreaker to Wesleyan opponents 7-8 (4) after a back-and-forth encounter. The duo showed moments of brilliance this weekend and surely have built a lot of confidence moving forward into the rest of the fall season. 

In singles play, senior captain Jake Cohen went on a thrilling run, defeating two top 5 seeds during his run all the way to the semifinals of the A singles draw. Cohen defeated his Bowdoin opponent 6-4, 6-1 in the first round. One hour later, he took on a tricky competitor from Amherst, playing one of the longest tiebreakers in the tournament's history. Cohen saved northwards of seven set points, winning the opening set tiebreaker 23-21, before clinching the second set 6-2. In the round of 16, Cohen took on Tufts competitor and the #4 overall seed Javier Gonzalez. After losing to Gonzalez in the spring last year, Cohen got his revenge defeating Gonzalez in a three-set battle 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Cohen took on Middlebury opponent and the #5 seed Noah Laber. In a match featuring thrilling back-and-forth rallies and constant high-pressure situations, Cohen went on to defeat Laber in an epic three-setter, winning 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 under the lights, coming back from 4-5 down in the third. On Sunday morning, Cohen took on Tufts opponent and #1 seed Vuk Vuksanovic in the semifinals. With a strong serving display from his Tufts opponent along with physical fatigue from the weekend, Cohen fell to future champion Vuksanovic in straight sets. In the B draw, Sosa also had a strong showing, defeating Springfield opponent 8-4 before falling to Middlebury opponent and #1 seed 4-8 in the second round in a match that featured incredible back-and-forth shotmaking. 

Colby head coach Adam Reeb commented on the weekend, saying "We had a great showing at our ITA Regionals this weekend. Jake has put so much work in and I'm really proud of him for making the semifinals. He played some amazing tennis and competed so well. This will be a great springboard for him for the rest of the year. Paul and Diego also played some great doubles, getting into the Round of 16 and all of our guys competed hard and gained some valuable experience. We will build on this tournament as there were a lot of lessons learned. We're excited to have a home dual match this weekend!" 

The Mules will return to action this Saturday, October 5th in Waterville taking on Clark University in the team's first dual match of the 2024-25 season.