HAMILTON – A few months removed from the final fall tournament, the Colgate men's tennis team is ready to return to action on Saturday at Penn State.
The players and coaches have been eagerly awaiting this day as the hunt begins for a Patriot League Championship.
"I have very high hopes and expectations heading into my 12th spring season," head coach
Bobby Pennington said. "We have an excellent mix of upperclassmen and freshmen on the squad."
Colgate has a tough start to the season as they're on the road for the first five matches, starting with Penn State on Saturday and will also take on Villanova during the road stretch.
The Raiders will then return home for five of their next six matches before traveling to Bradenton, Florida for the Michael Schonbraun '96 Spring Break trip where they will face Drexel, UConn and Quinnipiac.
Four of Colgate's final six matches of the season are against Patriot League opponents, including an early April trip to Navy.
"The schedule is significantly harder than past years, featuring Penn State, Villanova, UConn, Navy, to name a few," Pennington said. "The goal is to have our fifth consecutive winning season, but much more importantly, to make a deep run in the Patriot League tournament we are hosting."
Colgate is led by three-time All-Patriot League selection and co-captain
Jacob Daugherty (Wiesbaden, Germany) who returns for his senior season. Last season, Daugherty 23-14 and was named to the Patriot League First Team for a second straight season.
Juniors
Noah Rosenblat (Deerfield, Illinois) and
Alec Dardis (Laguna Niguel, California) also return for the Raiders as they look to move up the lineup after recording 18 and 10 wins, respectively, last season.
Kun Tan (Warsaw, Poland) who spent most of last spring at No. 3 doubles also is back for his sophomore year.
The Raiders bring in a talented freshman class consisting of four players from across the United States.
Scott Bickel (Winnetka, Illinois) highlights the group as a four-star recruit that had a spectacular fall season.
"We have an outstanding and lethal freshmen class led by four-star
Scott Bickel," Pennington said. "Bickel has the ability to be Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Along with Daugherty, they could be the most deadly 1-2 singles combo in the league."
The freshman class also consists of
Jack Ablon (Wellesley, Massachusetts),
Peter Hartman (Birmingham, Alabama) and
Tyler Krantz (Gate Mills, Ohio). All four saw significant playing time in the fall semester and look to be big-time contributors in the 2017-18 season.
Colgate will host the 2018 Patriot League Championships on the J.W. Abrahamson Memorial Tennis Courts at the end of April with play beginning on April 26 and the championship match scheduled for April 29
th. It is Colgate's first time hosting the tournament weekend since the 2012-13 season when it was played at Drumlins in Syracuse.
For updates on the men's tennis team through the season, visit GoColgateRaiders.com/MTEN or follow the team on Twitter and Instagram, @ColgateMWTennis.
