The men’s tennis team started its season this weekend at the Markin Tennis Courts, and senior Evgeny Samoylov was hot from the start.
Samoylov was the lone Braves’ player to go undefeated, as he went 4-0 on his way to clinching the round robin title in flight 3 singles.
Coach Jesse Plote said he was pleased with the way Samoylov preformed.
“He had experience,” Plote said. “He’s a senior and he was very consistent throughout the weekend.
Samoylov got off to a good start defeating his opponent from Saint Louis University 6-2, 7-5, in the opening round.
He had time to rest after receiving a bye in the second round, before going back to work against University of Illinois-Chicago’s Adrianno Liccardo.
Samoylov won a tight first set 7-6, and won the match after his opponent retired with the set tied 4-4.
With a 2-0 record behind him, Samoylov carried his momentum into the final day of play.
He defeated Matt Keesey of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 6-0, 6-4, and then went on to face Valparaiso’s Kevin Deherrera in his last match.
He won the match, 6-0, 6-4, to finish perfect for the weekend.
“It was a positive weekend for the team,” Plote said. “Everyone has been working hard and they’ve been doing a pretty good job.”
All together, the Braves finished 9-19 in singles play.
Junior Callen Fraychineaud picked up two wins over the weekend.
After going 0-2 on the first day of singles play, Fraychineaud rebounded on Sunday.
He defeated Valpo’s Phidias Fortune, 6-2, 6-2, and was given a victory after a Saint Louis player was injured.
Fraychineaud finished in a three-way tie for second place in the second singles flight.
Junior Milos Romic lost his first match but won his second in the first singles flight.
After not competing in his third match on Saturday, Romic completed his weekend on Sunday with a loss to St. Louis.
Romic plans to work on his serve to improve his game.
While he wasn’t disappointed with the team, he thinks they have the potential to play at a higher level.
“We could have done better,” he said. “But in general it was OK.”
Senior Michel Macara-chvili and junior Richard Robertson picked up the other two singles wins for the Braves.
“For the first meet I felt that everybody competed hard,” Plote said. “We came together as a team. It was pretty positive from my eyes.”
The Braves finished 2-10 in doubles play, excluding three matches dropped by sophomore Trevor McGrath, who teamed with a St. Louis player.
Plote said the team will focus on improving its doubles play.
“We just need to work on being a team and continue to be motivated to work on our game,” he said.
In top flight doubles, the team of Samoylov and Robertson posted a victory and finished with a 1-3 mark.
Romic and Fraychineaud also defeated a Valpo duo in the third flight of doubles to complete the doubles wins for the Braves.
Bradley will return to action today at 3 p.m. when it competes in the Northwestern Invitational this weekend.