Sophomore Aman Manji serves to his opponent. After their win over North Carolina Wesleyan College, the Eagles now stand with an overall record of 10-4. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics
The men’s tennis team played against the no. 25-ranked North Carolina Wesleyan College Battling Bishops, winning 6-3 and bringing their record in the season to 10-4.
Senior Alex Ruderman played first singles, losing in a close match against Bishops senior Robert Kjellberg 1-6, 6-4 and 7-5.
“I played alright,” Ruderman said. “He’s a strong player. We’ve had some tough matches before and he came out on top this time.”
Senior Eric Halpern, who normally plays second singles, was ill and caused the lineup to shift. Junior Rafe Mosetick played second singles for the first time this season, defeating freshman Sebastian Sikh, 7-5 and 6-3. Senior Ian Wagner played third singles, defeating freshman Fabio Pereira 6-4 and 6-1. Freshman David Omsky played singles for the first time this season, defeating freshman Mark Sokolov 6-2, 6-3 in the sixth singles spot.
“Not having played singles is not easy,” Head Coach John Browning said. “I’m really impressed with Omsky, who really stepped up in his first singles match. It can be really intimidating as a freshman. It was a tough situation, but the team handled it well.”
When speaking to Omsky he spoke about his mental state before and during the match.
“I’m glad that coach trusted me in that position. I wasn’t nervous exactly, if anything I’d say the right word is excited,” Omsky said. “I just had to take care of business and I’m glad I did. He wasn’t the toughest opponent but it’s still hard when you’re on the court to actually finish it.”
The doubles competition was shakier for the Eagles. The first doubles team of Ruderman and Wagner lost against Kjellberg and Sikh 8-6. Sophomore Aman Manji and freshman Scott Rubinstein played third doubles against Pereira and freshman Andres Gomez, losing 8-0.
“We had lost our first two matches and one of them was 8-0,” Browning said. “The third doubles match was losing and we were all thinking there was a real shot that we were going to be swept. Doubles has been a strength of ours so it was troubling to see this happen.”
Luckily for the Eagles, the second doubles team of Mosetick and Omsky came back after an early deficit to defeat junior Eduardo Ugalde and freshman Fernando Nardelli 8-6.
“Our real strength is in the depth of our lineup,” Ruderman added. “Every player on the team is really strong. Goodman, Manji and Omsky really stepped up, winning their matches, even when [they had] to move up a spot in the line up.”
Emory will continue the season next weekend, when the team will travel to Middlebury College (Vt.) to play Skidmore College (N.Y.) on April 10, Tufts University (Mass.) on April 11 and finally the home team, Middlebury, on April 12.
“We have some big matches coming up,” Ruderman said. “We’re playing Middlebury which has a really strong team. It’s important that we peak at the right time.”
