This weekend, the Yale men’s tennis team hosted the Yale Shootout, its first home tournament of the fall season. Building on their success last weekend at the Penn Classic, the Bulldogs opened with a bang, going 27–4 over the tournament.

The Elis took on Army, Bryant and St. Bonaventure at the annual Shootout tournament. The team has consistently performed well at this tournament in past years and added to that success this weekend.

“It was a good weekend for us,” head coach Alex Dorato said. “Everyone got to play a lot of matches which is really what we needed the most heading into the Regionals in two weeks.”

Play opened on Saturday with the Bulldogs boasting a nearly perfect start to the tournament, winning all but two matches. In singles play, Yale went 5–1 against Army. Tyler Lu ’17, who just returned from competing at the All-American Championships, fought for a comeback against his competitor, Army’s Sam Lampman, posting a 6–0, 6–7, 6–0 victory. Martin Svenning ’16, Alex Hagermoser ’17, Photos Photiades ’17 and Ziqi Wang ’18 all contributed straight set wins over their Army opponents.

“The team gained valuable match experience and confidence going into the next couple of weeks,” Wang said of his first home tournament as a Bulldog. “Overall, we had a strong showing.”

Stefan Doehler ’18 lost a tight three-set match against Army’s Michael Nyugen, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6. But Doehler had a significant turnaround later Saturday with a comfortable 6–2, 6–2 win over TJ Desanto of St. Bonaventure, helping the Bulldogs go undefeated in singles against the Bonnies.

The Elis further excelled in singles play against Bryant, finishing the weekend 5–2 against the team. While Daniel Faierman ’15 and Hagermoser both lost to their Bryant opponents in close three-set matches, Photiades posted a crucial come-from-behind victory. After losing the first set, he dominated the second and third sets, defeating his Bryant opponent 2–6, 6–1, 6–0.

Doubles play was just as competitive. Doehler and Lu posted a decisive 8–3 victory against the Army pair of Kyle Barnes and Austin McCasin. Meanwhile, Hagermoser and Photiades built on their success at the Penn Invitational, overcoming an Army duo 8–5.

“Every doubles team played with a lot of energy and we all just fed off of each other,” Hagermoser said.

The Eli’s doubles pairs continued with an impressive performance against Bryant and St. Bonaventure — the Bulldogs were undefeated in doubles plays against the two schools. Doehler and Svenning swept over a pair from St. Bonaventure by a score of 8–2, while Matt Saiontz ’15 and Wang overcame a pair from Bryant, 8–4.

The Bulldogs will next compete at the USTA/ITA Northeast Regional Championships starting Oct. 16.