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This week, the Yale men’s tennis team (8–4, 0–0 Ivy) added two new wins to its record. On Wednesday, the Elis hosted Monmouth University (9–1, 0–0 Metro Atlantic), and on Saturday, they welcomed the University of Delaware (4–7, 0–0 Colonial) to New Haven.

The Wednesday evening match against the Hawks was the team’s first mid-week match of the season. The team rose to the challenge and claimed a 7–0 victory over Monmouth. They continued their winning ways on Saturday afternoon with a 4–1 win over Delaware.

“We haven’t had a mid-week match yet this year so I think the guys did a good job making the transition from class to the match,” men’s tennis head coach Chris Drake said. 

In a week of firsts, the team also rotated in two new teams of doubles for the Delaware match. Drake added that “[the team] came out with good energy and focused on securing the doubles point.”

On Wednesday, Michael Sun ’23 led the team in singles, followed by Theo Dean ’24, Cody Lin ’22, Aidan Reilly ’25, Luke Neal ’25 and Walker Oberg ’25. Sun and Lin played No. 1 doubles, ahead of Dean with Reilly and Oberg with Renaud Lefevre ’24. 

Sun and Reilly both took their singles matches to three sets and clinched tight third-set victories (7–6 and 7–5, respectively). In No. 2 singles, Dean narrowly won the first set in a tiebreaker 7–6, but he quickly dominated (6–2) in the second set.

Drake gave praise to Sun for his successful battle against Monmouth despite having taken “two midterm exams earlier that day.”

On Saturday, the team changed up the line-ups with Dean playing the first line of singles, followed by Lin, Reilly, Shervin Dehmoubed ’25, Neal and Oberg. The doubles team of Lin and Lefevre debuted at No. 1 doubles, ahead of Dean with Reilly and the other new doubles team of Dehmoubed with Oberg.

Against Delaware, Drake pointed out Oberg’s “good job coming back from 2–5 down in his first set to win 7–6 and then [clinching] the match for [the team] in the second set.” He also noted Lefevre and Lin’s doubles victory at No. 1 doubles despite having only practiced together for one day.

The men will return to competition next Saturday at the University of California, Berkeley (6–3, 0–0 Pac-12). They will continue their tour of the west coast with matches against Saint Mary’s (5–10, 0–3 West Coast) and Santa Clara (4–6, 0–0) on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively. 

Sun looks forward to his team’s upcoming trip to California for the opportunity to “play outdoor tennis again in great weather.” He also is excited to spend time with his teammates off of the court because “[their] Spring Break trip is usually a good chance to bond before Ivy season starts.”

Drake echoed these sentiments and is grateful for the “great alumni support that allows [them] to do something like this.” He looks forward to his team “[training] hard, [playing] three good opponents and [having] some fun in the nice weather.”

Neal, one of the team’s northern Californians, is thrilled for the opportunity to “[play] against schools like Cal that [he] would watch play when [he] was younger.” He sees this trip as “a good challenge for the team and fun for [him] to have family and friends out to watch.”

Yale’s women’s tennis team (6–6, 0–0 Ivy) will head to Florida next week, where it will take on Florida Atlantic University (10–6, 0–0 CUSA) on Sunday, March 20, Florida International University (10–2, 0–0) on Tuesday, March 22 and the University of Central Florida (7–6, 0–0 AAC) on Thursday, March 24.