Acorn

The men�s tennis season started in earnest last week on a four-game spring break trip to Orlando, Fla. The Rangers amassed a 3-1 record during the warm, sunny week, losing only to high-ranked Carthage College. The Carthage match was one of two big contests on the trip. The other was a repeat of last year�s pairing against Franklin & Marshall. The team�s dominant performance improves on its slow start to this season.

�The matches before Spring break were [more like] scrimmages,� Coach Jeff Brandes said. The Rangers went 1-3 before the break, but the team was weak because some players were sick. Despite the damage these absences did to Drew�s potency, Brandes salvaged something from the matches, and took the opportunity to test different doubles combinations. Drew showed its true colors in Orlando.

�The weather really helped,� Brandes said. With so many matches to be played during the week, it can be hard to reschedule a rained-out game. Aside from the match against Carthage, the Rangers won all but three of their singles matches in straight sets, and won each of their doubles matches. The weather helped morale, too. �The weather was so good. You could wear shorts and T-shirts every day,� freshman Rich Rappaport said. Drew�s first match last week, against Franklin & Marshall, was also its biggest of the week.

�It was a grudge match,� Brandes said. �The team [members] thought they could win it last year, [but they weren�t able to],� he said. The Rangers looked forward to their chance for redemption, but �to beat them 7-0, it was so good,� Brandes said. �It was exciting. The team wanted it,� Rappaport said. The victory jump-started the team�s week. �We didn�t know how good they would be, but we gained a lot of confidence [from the match],� sophomore Vik Rao said. But the momentum wasn�t enough for Drew to overcome its toughest contender, Carthage College, who beat them 6-1.

�The matches were closer than the scores suggest,� Brandes said. �The 4 and 5 slots were especially close.� Carthage is ranked 20 in Division III schools, so the match was bound to be tough. �It�s just a matter of practicing harder,� Rao said. Drew won its final two games of the week, against Simpson College and Stevens Institute of Technology, 7-0 and 6-1 respectively.

�The other team members started concentrating more [after the Carthage match],� Rappaport said. The team�s newfound focus was important to the next two days of competition. The first match after the break was Tuesday at DeSales.

�It wasn�t our hardest conference match, but it wasn�t our easiest either,� Brandes said. This point was immaterial though, as Drew won 7-0. DeSales was Drew�s first conference match, and the victory extended Drew�s conference winning streak to 42 matches.

Both matches lasted for more than one-and-a-half hours. And now that the season is in full swing, the team feels confident that they will be able to continue their winning trend.

�We�re looking good to win the conference,� Rao said.

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