The Yeomen started their season with a competitive performance at their own invitational event this past weekend. After finishing the 2014-2015 season ranked 12th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region and winning over 61 percent of their single matches, the Yeomen had high expectations for the start of their 2015-2016 season. This past weekend, they fulfilled some of those expectations, finish­ing the weekend event with a 19–12 record in singles play over three rounds of individual matches and closing out the weekend with a 8–7 record in doubles play.

Senior Brandon McKennna, junior Abraham Davis and sopho­more Michael Drougas highlighted the weekend, each going 3–0 in singles action. Sophomore standout and former North Coast Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year Drougas was tested in the first and third matches, which each went to three sets. In his first match he bested Denison University’s Jack O’Koniewski 7–6, 3–6, 10–4 and would then go on to defeat Titas Bera of The College of Wooster 6–3, 4–6, 10–6.

Similary, McKenna won all three of his matches in straight sets and Davis won his first two matches in straight sets before outlasting Jack Buchan of Wooster 6–4, 4–5, 10–7.

Junior Billy Lennon said that both McKenna and Drougas played impressively over the weekend.

“Mikey took out both Denison’s number two ranked players as well as Titas Bera, one of the region’s top players and [the] number one singles player for Wooster,” Lennon said. “Brandon has been putting in a lot of hard work and won all three of his singles matches in straight sets. He eased past his opponents in a businessman-like fashion that was fun to watch.”

In doubles play, Davis and Mck­enna teamed up and finished the weekend 2–1, as did the teams of Drougas and junior Ian Paik and senior Callan Louis and junior Billy Lennon. McKenna, Drougas and Da­vis finished the weekend 5–1 overall.

Reflecting on the weekend, Davis commented that his team’s compet­itive gameplay would play a big role in the success of their season.

“Getting match experience is the biggest thing,” Davis said. “Every­one competed hard, and doing that day in, day out is how we’re going to reach our goals.”

Head Coach Eric Ishida praised his team for their offseason im­provements as well as their success over the weekend.

“I think that we definitely im­proved over the year, comparing our results from last year to this year,” Ishida said. “Everybody is arranged in their matches to be competitive. For us to go 19–12 in singles is a huge accomplishment. We needed match play going into the weekend, and that is exactly what we accom­plished: getting match tough and better prepared for the season.”

Similarly, Lennon stressed that keeping up intensity in practice will directly contribute to the Yeomen maintaining their competitive edge.

“We need to improve by bringing up the intensity in practice and by being efficient on the court, coming to the net when we have our chanc­es and putting the ball away when we can.”

The Yeomen will be back on the court this weekend when they travel to the ITA Central Region Champi­onships at Washington University in St. Louis, MI.