Rider tennis teams continue to make progress
By Christopher Cole
The Broncs may have lost some matches, but their wins were very memorable.
The men’s tennis team (1-4 overall, 0-1 MAAC) lost 6-1 against Lafayette Friday afternoon, but had No. 1 player Casey Jedlinski’s win to keep them hopeful.
The junior defeated Lafayette’s Brett Kraft 6-2, 7-5.
“My first two matches this season were a little sloppy (6-0, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-0 losses), so I worked on staying positive today and rallied with the support of my teammates and students cheering me on,” Jedlinski said. “I tried my best and luckily I won.”
Jedlinski’s power game is one that Coach Ed Torres has described as “controlled,” which is hard to do.
“He was facing a former Middlesex County champion and kept the ball under control and was able to pull out the win,” said Torres.
Despite losing 0-6, 7-5, and 11-13 in a tough match against Lafayette’s Matt McGranaghan, sophomore Will Haight won with partner sophomore Marc Ashed in their second-doubles match 8-5.
The Broncs’ women’s team (0-4 overall, 0-1 MAAC) lost to Manhattan in a MAAC match Sunday afternoon. Junior Danielle Morse and sophomore Kristina Paich won 9-8 in doubles, but the team score wound up Manhattan 7, Rider 0.
In two three-set matches, Paich lost 1-6, 6-4, 5-10 to Casey Conklin. Freshman Amanda Matticks lost 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 to Jasper’s Lindsay Spagnola.
Against LaSalle, the men lost 4-3, losing some close matches but enjoying a hard-fought victory by Jedlinski.
Jedlinski’s relentless power game pulled him past George Gennaoui, winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
“My body was hurting, but I was able to dig deeper than my opponent,” said Jedlinski.
Coach Torres said he was anticipating this victory but not the challenge that came with it.
“I expected Jedlinski to win, but it was a tough match,” he said.
Suffering from an ongoing hamstring injury, freshman Josh Rultenberg hung in there, but lost 6-4, 5-7, 1-6 to Matt Rivera.
“I feel bad about losing, but Rivera’s a good player,” said Rultenberg. “I think if I didn’t have my injury, I would have had a better chance to win the match. I’m definitely going to be taking a rest.”
Other singles matches were won by Haight, winning 6-1, 7-5 against Eric Glick, and freshman Chris Esposito defeating Andrew Petrusky 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Haight and Ashed won 9-7 in doubles.
Esposito and senior Jim Leone lost 9-7 after they were up 7-4.
On Wednesday, the women lost a non-conference showdown with Monmouth 6-1. The team was short-handed and they had to forfeit one singles match and one doubles match.
Paich delivered for Rider early as she defeated Kaitlin Gallagher 6-4, 2-6, and 10-2 in the tie breaker.
Due to a scheduling conflict, the men and women team’s non-conference match at noon on Sunday against St. Francis (NY) will be played at Rider instead of in New York.
