In their first matches of the spring season, the men’s and women’s tennis teams went 2-0 and 0-2, respectively. The men started off against St. Michael’s College on Feb. 4, before meeting Franklin Pierce University on Feb. 11. The women traveled to play against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Bryant University back to back on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12.
To kick off their season, the men’s team played indoors at home during an extreme cold front. They beat St. Michael’s 6-3. Tommy Harrison ’26, Simon Kauppila ’23 and Hunter Levine ’23 all proved successful in their singles and doubles matches. Still, tennis doesn’t get much closer than Chen Liang’s ’24 sixth singles match, losing in a 5-10, 10-point tiebreaker after splitting sets 7-5, 6-7 (2-7).
The men’s team was back at it a week later. They proved dominant over Franklin Pierce, winning 9-0. While Alex Merson ’26 rolled to an 8-1 victory in third doubles with his partner Aryan Nijhawan ’25, he eked out a tough match at third singles after climbing back from a set down. He eventually won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Merson’s teammate Dylan Walters ’23 also won his singles match in three sets. At first singles, Walters pulled out a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 match to get the final point for a Judges win.
On the women’s side, Rebecca Suarez ’26 stood out in the first match of the spring season. Traveling to MIT, the Judges lost 1-8 in the overall head-to-head match. She and her partner, Bhakti Parwani ’25, scored the sole point for the Judges against MIT, winning at first doubles 8-6. Suarez continued to show her skills in first singles. She pushed it to a 10-point tiebreaker. Suarez eventually lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-10.
The next day, the women’s team was on the road again. This time they were in Rhode Island playing against Bryant University. They lost 0-7 in the end, but there were some very close matches. In doubles, Ella Chase ’26 and Ella Subramanian ’24 lost in a tight 6-7 set at third doubles. In singles, Parwani pushed Sarah Hickey from Bryant to two close sets at first singles before losing 6-7, 4-6. Cecilia Denis ’25 proved resilient in sixth singles. After losing 0-6 in the first set, she fought in a close second set before going down 5-7.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are back in action during the February break on the West Coast. Each team faces the California Institute of Technology, Whittier College, the University of Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the joint intercollegiate sports program of Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College and Scripps College.
