By Abigail Condon, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men’s tennis team netted their first win against Penn College on Sept. 7 with a tally of 9-0, starting their 2019-2020 season with a record of 1-0.With the graduation of seven seniors from last year’s team, the River Hawks looked to their younger players as freshmen Justin Mahoney and Kyle Bitting teamed up to win the No.3 doubles match 8-0 for their first collegiate win.
Susquehanna lost only nine games total in all three of these double matches.
In singles competition, sophomore Emil Vyskocil played the No. 1 singles position, earning his first victory of the season 6-1 and 6-3 over Penn College’s Tucker Phillippe.
“The personal goal going into the match was just to get a good start for the year, to get the ball rolling,” Vyskocil said. “We lost a lot of people from the team last year, so getting good team chemistry and just to have fun are the goals.”
“I am very excited for the potential that we have as a team for both this season and the next one as well,” senior captain Taylor Swim said. “Personally though, I am most excited by the new role that I will be taking on as team captain and the new challenges and rewards that it will bring.”
In the No. 3 singles position, sophomore Ethan Cooley coasted to a victory with a convincing 6-1 and 6-0 contest over Joseph Morrin of Penn College. Freshmen standouts for the River Hawks in their first matches included John Duncan, who won a
“I hope to elevate my level of play throughout the season while enjoying the game with my team, coach, and family pushing me to better myself on and off the court,” Duncan said after his win.
Freshmen Joshua Sanderson, Conor Ryan and Sam Sidle each added to the team total of nine wins.
“We have an entirely new lineup and new doubles teams, and they performed extremely well at their first match,” coach Bob Jordan said.
The River Hawk’s next match will be held at 9 a.m. on Sept. 14 and 15 at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, P.a.
