The men’s tennis team dropped its last match of the season to Brown, 5-2, April 28 at Yale’s Cullman Courts.
The Bulldogs (6-14, 2-5 Ivy) lost all three doubles matches to surrender the doubles point, and proceeded to fall in four of the six singles matches.
Matthew Feldman ’06 and Brandon Wai ’07 recorded the Bulldogs’ two wins. In the No. 6 singles match, Feldman edged Luke Tedaldi, 7-6, 7-6 while in the No. 1 singles match, Wai beat Adil Shamasdin, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, to close out a spectacular sophomore campaign.
Wai, who has emerged as one of the top players in the Ancient Eight, was recently named first-team All-Ivy in both singles and doubles. The San Diego-native finished the season with a 6-l conference record playing at No.1 singles and ranked 97th in the nation in singles.
Wai teamed up with Ryan Murphy ’05 to go 4-3 in the Ivies as the No.1 doubles team. Murphy, Yale’s No.2 singles player, was a second-team All-Ivy selection in singles.
Wai finished the spring season with a 14-6 overall record in singles. During the fall season he took the A-flight titles at the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational and the Yale Invitational. Wai also reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Northeast Regional.
“He’s a star,” Murphy said. “He’s a great tennis player and a great kid. It’s really an accomplishment to have so much talent and so much respect on the court at the same time.”
Murphy had an 8-12 overall record in the spring. In the fall he reached the semifinals of A-flight singles at the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational.
The Bulldogs finished the season on a low note, winning only one of their last six matches. They were involved in a number of close contests in that span, including two decided by a single point, but came up short in both. Their season finale against the Bears was similarly tight; three of the Elis’ losses in singles went to three sets.
While much of the team struggled, Wai was strong down the stretch. His only setback in those six matches came against Harvard in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Jonathan Hu.
With the season over, the Elis bid farewell to three seniors including Murphy, who has contributed greatly to the squad all four years. Last season, he earned first-team All-Ivy singles honors while in his freshman year he moved into the No.1 singles position and garnered first team All-Ivy honors as well with a 24-10 overall record.
The Bulldogs also lose Andrew Arons ’05 and Johnny Lu ’05.
Though it will be tough to replace the seniors, the Bulldogs are optimistic, especially with Wai returning.
“We still have Bandon with us plus some very good freshmen coming in
next year,” Milosz Gudzowski ’06 said. “All four of them are nationally ranked and will probably get into the lineup next year. This is probably the strongest group of freshmen recruits I’ve ever seen”