The Yale men’s tennis team opened their spring season with victories against two tough teams out of Boston this weekend. The Yale women’s tennis team is also off to a strong start with a 2–0 record.

The men faced off at home against Boston College on Saturday and Boston University on Sunday at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. Yale’s last meeting against Boston College was at the kickoff of the 2016 season, ending with a 5–2 victory for the Bulldogs. Yale also took down Boston University last spring with a 6–1 win. This time around, the Elis beat the Eagles and the Terriers 5–2 and 4–2 respectively. On the women’s side, the Bulldogs won an impressive victory over their regional rival, Quinnipiac, following last weekend’s win over St. John’s College.

“We had a really strong weekend as a team,” Samantha Martinelli ’21 said. “I thought the energy was incredibly high, and that was definitely reflected in our matches. I think this is a really positive start for our team and it makes me excited for the matches to come!”

The men’s squad started strong on the first day of matches versus Boston College, knocking off the Eagles with a 5–2 result, winning 4 out of 6 singles matches and clinching the doubles point.

Dylan King ’20 dominated his opponent from Boston College 6–0 and 6–2, securing the No. 1 position for Yale. Michael Sun ’22 in the No. 2 position fought hard after dropping the first set and eventually defeated his opponent 3–6, 6–3, 6–3. Andrew Heller ’20 and Robert Shymansky ’23 also secured impressive wins over the Eagles in the singles portion.

Yale toiled hard for wins in the doubles and ultimately came out on top. The Blue and White doubles duo of King and Sun defeated their opponents 6–1, while the pair of Arnav Ghingra ’22 and Heller defeated their opponents from Boston in a close 6–4.

In Sunday’s matches against Boston University, Yale clinched the doubles point with a 6–4 duos win by King and Sun in the No. 1 position, and a solid 6–1 duos win by Cody Lin ’21 and Ryan Cheng ’20.

In the No. 1 position in singles, King secured a win over BU with an impressive 6–1, 6–0 finish. Shymansky also defeated his opponent 6–1, 6–2. Lin clinched an impressive win at the No. 6 position in singles, securing an overall 4–2 victory for the Bulldogs over the Terriers.

The pair of wins follow a challenging fall season, with four back-to-back weekends of play that ended with a decent record for the Bulldogs. Yale concluded fall play at the Connecticut State Invitational, where they were able to snag victories in nine out of their 10 singles matches. First year Louis Siegler ’23 won an impressive 6–4 victory in his first season with the Bulldogs.

“For first years, the transition from individually oriented junior tennis to team focused college play has been exciting,” Siegler said following the invitational. “We will continue to work hard through the off season and are looking forward to the intensity of dual matches in the spring.”

The Yale women’s tennis team moved to a 2–0 record this Saturday, with a victorious team effort against Quinnipiac amounting to an astounding 7–0 triumph.

The nationally ranked No. 4 doubles duo of Jessie Gong ’22 and Martinelli opened with a powerful 6–0 win in the No. 1 position, with the duo of Chelsea Kung ’23 and Rena Lin ’23 rebounding off that energy to secure a matching 6–0 win, launching the women’s team to an early 1–0 lead on the contest.

The Bulldogs went on to win all six of their singles matches over Quinnipiac, with Martinelli pulling an impressive 6–1 and 6–3 in the No. 1 position. Kung slammed with a 6–1, 6–2 in the No. 2, while Bulldogs captain Caroline Dunleavy ’21, Lin, Raissa Lou ’22 and Gong followed the lead to all secure victories. Positions No. 3 through No. 6 showed an outstanding effort, with each player winning one of their sets with 6–0.

“The team is very excited for the season and ready to build on our first few matches,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve been working really hard in practice and excited to test ourselves in our upcoming matches. Moving forward, we’re focusing on one match at a time and bringing the same intensity and high energy to each practice and match. The season is long and we’re really excited to play together and build on our success from the fall and our first few spring matches.”

The Yale women’s team is coming off their incredible spring opener, in which they secured a solid 6–1 win over St. John’s College on January 18th. Just as they were dominant against Quinnipiac, the women’s team won five of their six matches versus St. John’s. Dunleavy, Gong, Lin, and Lou all won without dropping a set.

The doubles duo Gong and Martinelli are proving to be an unstoppable force for the Yale women’s team heading into the spring season. Gong and Martinelli advanced to the 2019 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, and played hard alongside 32 of the best women’s duos in the country to come out ranked No. 4 in the Oracle/ITA Nationals fall rankings. The duo hope to replicate their perseverance into the spring season.

The women’s team will face off at home against Boston College this Friday at 5 p.m.

 

Andrew Bellah | bellah.bellah@yale.edu

ANDREW BELLAH