Mosetick_Rafe_1

The  Emory men’s tennis team earned a solid two wins over the weekend, defeating the Kalamazoo College (Mich.) Hornets and the Rhodes College (Tenn.) Lynxs winning 9-0 in both matches without dropping a single set. These two wins bring the Eagles’ record to 8-4.

Against the Hornets, senior Alex Ruderman played first singles having the closest game, winning 6-3, 7-5 against sophomore Brandon Metzler. Senior Eric Halpern played second singles winning 6-1, 6-3 against senior David DeSimone. Junior Rafe Mosetick competed in third singles against junior Robert Hudson defeating him 6-1, 6-2.

The doubles matches were a little closer. In the doubles competition, Ruderman partnered with senior Ian Wagner to defeat Brandon Metzler and Robert Hudson 8-6 in the first singles spot. Halpern and freshman Scott Rubinstein defeated their opponents 9-7. Mosetick and freshman David Omsky played third doubles demolishing the team of sophomores Spencer Navarre and Eric De Witt 8-1.

“Everybody played well,” Head Coach John Browning said. “If you’re not focused these type of matches against less competitive teams can get a little sloppy.”

The second match against Rhodes continued on the same pace with the Eagles dropping even fewer games and once again defeating the team 9-0. Ruderman played first singles once again winning a decisive 6-1, 6-2 against junior Elliot Blatt. Eric Helpern played second singles winning 6-0, 6-2 against junior Greyson Brilliant.

Mosetick played third singles defeating sophomore Albert Vacheron 6-1, 6-3. Sophomore Aman Manji played sixth singles and defeated his opponent freshman Jack Patton with an impressive 6-0, 6-0.

The team of Ruderman and Wagner continued playing first doubles, defeating Rhodes sophomore Daniel Oliver and Patton 8-2. Halpern and Rubinstein played second doubles beating their opponents 8-6. Rafe Mosetick and Omsky played third doubles defeating Rhodes’ competitors 8-4.

“It’s nice to play these types of matches,” Ruderman said. “We are focusing on the big tournaments end of the year tournaments, the UAA tournament and the National Championships and we don’t need to tire ourselves out.”

Coach Browning shared a similar sentiment about the rest of the season.

“We’ve had a lot of tough matches,” Browning said. “We want to focus on training over the next few weeks which means taking it a little easier when it comes to matches.”

Browning added that the tournaments have gotten much more competitive, which is a reflection of Division III in general. He thinks Division III is becoming more competitive due to Division I level athletes wanting to focus more on academics, placing them at a Division III school

The Eagles will continue their season against the Ogelthorpe University (Ga.) Petrels on Thursday, March 26 at 2 p.m. at the Woodruff Physical Education Center (WoodPEC).​

+ posts