Yale Athletics

This past weekend, the Yale men’s tennis team took on William & Mary and Liberty at their home Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. The Bulldogs came into the weekend on a hot streak after recently being ranked 39th in the nation in the first full ITA Team rankings of the season. In addition to the top-50 team ranking, Yale boasts the 72nd-ranked singles player in the country — Vignesh Gogineni ’26 — and three top-hundred-ranked doubles pairings. 

“I think we’re playing much better now that our goals are more clear and everyone is in full swing,” Gogineni told the News. “The guys have been putting in a lot of effort in practice, and the energy and intensity have been very high recently.” 

The men’s team kicked off the weekend on Friday by dominating the William & Mary team. In doubles, the 82nd-ranked duo of Gogineni and Edward Liao ’28 got things rolling with an easy 6–1 victory. Jason Shuler ’27 and Jim Ji ’27 secured the doubles point for the Bulldogs by taking down their opponents 6–3. 

On the singles side of the team match, Gogineni kicked things off by breezing past Oliver Hague 6–2, 6–0. Shuler obliterated Sean Joseph 6–1, 6–1 and Liao swiftly finished off their opponents by defeating Albert Hansen 6–3, 6–1. 

Yale was back in action on Sunday, taking on the Liberty Flames. In doubles, Gogineni and Liao again teamed up on their way to victory, beating Joaquim Almeida and Trey Stinchcomb 6–4. Ji and Eric Li ’26 lost their match, but Shuler and Krish Gupta ’28 came up clutch in a close one against Siwanat Auytayakul and Carl Roothman 7–5 to take the doubles point. 

In singles, the Bulldogs were able to take four of six matches. As any fan of Yale tennis could have guessed, Gogineni made quick work of Liberty’s No. 1, beating Almeida 6–4, 7–6. Shuler picked up his fourth win of the weekend when he took down Auytayakul 7–5, 7–5. Ji and Li both fell to their opponents, but Liao and Gupta closed out the matches by winning their matches 6–2, 6–3, and 7–6, 6–4, respectively. The Bulldogs beat the Flames 5–2 to improve their perfect home record to 4–0 and 7–3 overall. 

“This year, the team has really emphasized our commitment to being unbearably tough. Whether that be in practice or during dual matches, we are always striving to challenge our limits and make it difficult for our opponents,” 83rd-ranked doubles player Dylan Tsoi told the News. “By building this team culture, the guys have developed great chemistry on and off the court and I believe it is one of the key contributors to our success so far this season.” 

The Bulldogs are in action next weekend, taking on Cornell and the University of Memphis.