AAMU Men’s Tennis Get Win to Wrap Up of three Match Weekend

NORMAL --Cold weather was the story of the weekend and Monday afternoon as the Bulldog Tennis team competed, first in Montgomery, Ala. on Saturday, then a home match Monday.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the cold temps on Saturday seemed to freeze their play on the courts as a 0-7 loss to Kennesaw State was followed by a 3-4 loss to host Alabama State.

The Kennesaw State Owls got off to an early start, sweeping all three of the doubles matches. In singles, the Maroon & White didn’t fare much better, getting shut out in singles play.

“Kennesaw State played really well and seemed to cope with the cold much better than we did,” commented Bulldogs head coach, Thomas Colvin. “The cold and wind seemed to cause us more problems and we were never able to adjust in it.”

In the second match, conditions would only further deteriorate, but A&M seemed to gain some footing against Alabama State.

The doubles matches saw the men of A&M get out early, but only the #2 team of junior Nicholas Burger and freshman Andres Veliz were able to hang on and pull out a victory.

“Not getting the doubles point really put us in a hole,” Colvin said. “Had we gotten that, it would have been a huge confidence boost for us going into singles.”

In singles, the Bulldogs found themselves going to third sets in match number’s 2, 3, and 5. A straight set loss at number 1 singles, followed by third set losses at 2 and 5 sealed the 3-4 loss for the men’s team.

“We showed some fight against the Hornets, but it wasn’t a sustained effort. We have to be stronger mentally to get that.”

On Monday, the men found themselves once again dealing with weather; however, it was a race against the sleet and freezing rain moving into the area.
Stillman College came in with upset on their mind, and stealing the doubles point put the Bulldogs on notice that they were here to play.

Needing four singles wins, Alabama A&M was able to get wins at number’s 1, 2, 3 and 4 to claim the victory, just as the sleet began to cover the courts.

“We needed that win today,” Colvin stated. “This was one that we had to have a strong effort in, and we got it from our top four. They played to win and it showed.”

“We’re getting closer to where we need to be. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us so that we can get some solid work in over the next few weeks.”

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