Wake Forest Men's Tennis Qualifies for Indoor Championships but Suffers First Defeat
Tennis season is upon us in Winston-Salem, and the Wake Forest men's tennis team looks to back up one of the greatest seasons in college tennis history. They are coming off a year in which they took home both the indoor and outdoor national championships and finished with a magnificent 40-1 record.
With a reloaded roster, the Demon Deacons have a stacked non-conference schedule. So far, they have been able to pass almost every test, including qualifying for the ITA Indoor National Championship, but they did suffer their first setback this weekend, falling to #6 Ohio State in Columbus.
The Good
The Demon Deacons cruised on their home courts to qualify for the ITA Indoor National Championships last weekend. This will mean they will go to defend their title in the event from a season ago.
They started by beating conference foe Virginia Tech 4-0 on Friday. They won the doubles point thanks to victories from the pair of senior DK Suresh Ekambaram and redshirt freshman Andrew Delgado, and the pair of freshman Aryan Shah and sophomore Kacper Szymkowiak.
In singles, sophomore Joaquin Guilleme took care of business along with a pair of freshmen in Dominik Mosejczuk and Mees Rottgering. This was enough to clinch the first victory.
On Sunday, the Deacs continued their winning ways by beating the Vanderbilt Commodores by the same 4-0 mark. This time, it was the team of junior Luca Pow and Mees Rottgering, along with the pair of DK Suresh Ekambaram and sophomore Charlie Robertson, who captured the doubles point. In singles, it was Mees Rottgering with another big victory to go along with Luca Pow and Joaquin Guilleme.
Mees Rottgering had such a good individual weekend for the Deacs that he was named the ACC Freshman of the Week.
The Bad
Despite a pair of big wins over ITA Kickoff Weekend, the Deacs fell by the score of 4-0 at Ohio State over this past weekend. The Buckeyes are the number six team in the nation and lost to the Deacs in a thriller last year in Winston-Salem.
This makes the Demon Deacons 6-1 on the season. They had already been tested on the road, picking up a nice 4-2 win in Austin against #4 Texas. My guess is that the Deacs will see the Buckeyes again down the road and maybe get a chance at revenge.
Deacs Sit at Top of ITA Rankings
In the latest ITA weekly national rankings, Wake Forest is ranked the No. 1 team. This was the January 28 poll, before the loss to Ohio State, so that ranking could shift later this week.
Here is the current Top Ten
- Wake Forest
- Virginia
- Stanford
- TCU
- Texas
- Ohio State
- Mississippi State
- Texas A&M
- UCF
- San Diego
Wake Forest Men's Tennis Indoor Season Results
The Deacs are 6-1 on the season. Here's how the season has gone thus far:
Date | Opponent | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
Jan 11 | Saint Joseph's | Winston-Salem | Won, 7-0 |
Jan 11 | ETSU | Winston-Salem | Won, 4-0 |
Jan 18 | Knoxville | Won, 4-1 | |
Jan 21 | Austin | Won, 4-2 | |
Jan 23 | Winston-Salem | Won, 4-0 | |
Jan 24 | Winston-Salem | Won, 4-0 | |
Feb 1 | Columbus | Lost, 0-4 |
What's Next?
Now Wake turns their attention to ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The first and second rounds will take place from February 13th to 15th in Waco, Texas. This gives the Deacs plenty of time to get prepared, and I am sure they will be eager to get the bad taste from this past weekend out of their mouths.
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Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.