By Olivia Parke, Contributing Writer
The Susquehanna men’s tennis team took on Marywood, Scranton, Misericordia, Manhattanville, Arcadia, King’s and Desales at the King’s College Men’s Tennis Invitational on Sept. 14 and 15 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Freshmen Joshua Sanderson and John Duncan teamed up to win their first doubles match 8-0 against Misericordia’s Matthew McCaffery and Nico Touch. In their next match, however, they came up short, losing 8-6 to Cabrini’s Ben Mead and Vince Paetow.
In the singles competition, Sanderson earned a vic- tory over Marywood’s Jarrod Palmer in addition to a 6-1 win over Scranton’s Daniel Scala in the quarter finals.
“Our team’s mindset going into this tournament was mainly to have fun with the competition at hand,” Sanderson said. “I personally wanted to win my singles and doubles brackets.”
In the end, Manhattanville’s champion Jan Senkerik defeated Sanderson 6-2 in his semi final match, with Sanderson finishing with the No. 2 rank.
Freshman Sam Sidle advanced to the semi finals after a 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 win over King’s Nick Holland in the quarter finals. He put up a good fight but eventually lost to the champion Patrick O’Mara from Scranton.
Duncan also made it to the semi finals, finishing No.4 after winning against Arcadia’s Jonathan Noble and then com- ing up short against Mead in the semi final game.
“My teams’ success and my individual success were mainly from the support of my team- mates and coaches,” Duncan said. “I did not know what to expect from the tournament, but I looked forward to the tough competition.”
Two other freshmen, Conor Ryan and Justin Mahoney followed similar paths as their teammates, as they both won their first single matches but ultimately fell short in the semi final round.
Ryan won his first match over Arcadia’s Joey Burridge 6-3 and then lost to King’s Jason Homsheck. Mahoney, meanwhile, advanced after a 6-0, 6-1 win over Misericordia’s Noah Dayton and then got defeated in the semi finals by DeSales’ Juan Troncoso.
The River Hawks’ will now shift their focus to what lies ahead. The team competes next on the road as they get set to travel to Annville, P.a for a match that will be held at 12 p.m. on Sept. 21 against Lebanon Valley College.