Men’s tennis wins first match of the season

Senior Daniel Cooper gets some air during Saturday's match. (Caroline Rode/TommieMedia)
Senior Daniel Cooper gets some air during Saturday's match. (Caroline Rode/TommieMedia)

The men’s tennis team won its first match of the season against the University of Wisconsin- LaCrosse Saturday at home. 

The Tommies defeated the Eagles 7-2, and the loss drops Wisconsin-LaCrosse to 0-2 on the season.

“It was a great way to start the season,” senior Daniel Cooper said. “It’s really important to start it on a positive note, so I think we did that.”

Cooper and his doubles partner junior Brian McCarthy won their match 8-2.

“We played pretty well, and we were serving really well,” Cooper said.

Cooper said that though his doubles team won, there is still room for improvement.

“We’re just gonna keep working hard all season and think of it as a marathon instead of a sprint,” Cooper said.

For McCarthy, who plays No.1 singles, it was a close win in his match with scores of 6-4, 6-7, 5-7 and 11-9.

“I kind of had some jitters out there, but I’m glad I won,” McCarthy said.

Coach Terry Peck said that he was pleased with the outcome of Saturday’s match.

“Some of our players followed their game plans really well,” Peck said. “Overall I was real happy.”

Peck said that he was most pleased with his team taking two out of three doubles matches.

“That’s what I was hoping to start with so I’m happy about how it went,” Peck said. “ I definitely found a few things that we need to work on, and we need to have a clear understanding of what we’re doing out there. We’re working hard and having fun doing it. It’s a good place to be.”

The Tommies’ next match will be against the winner of the St. John’s Gustavus match on Feb. 11.

Caroline Rode can be reached at rode8318@stthomas.edu.