The men’s tennis team faced a challenging set of matches as the team took on James Madison and Penn State in a non-conference neutral-site match at Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.

The Bison faced James Madison on Feb. 11 and fell to the Dukes 1-6 after a hard-fought battle. A big Bison victory came during the No. 1 singles, where Daniel Wright ’18 defeated his opponent 6-1, 6-2. His first win of the spring has improved his career singles record to 55-35, tying him for 10th on the Orange and Blue’s all-time wins list.

“It feels great, and all I want to do is keep moving forward. I hope to pick up some more wins to help the team,” Wright said.

The Bison proved to be resilient, and put up several hard-fought battles throughout the day. Max Palmer ’20 battled an opponent in a tight match that finished 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in favor of James Madison. In doubles, Ben Gerber ’18 and Wright narrowly lost to their opponents 7-6 (7-2).

The team faced Penn State on Feb. 12 and again found themselves outmatched following a 7-0 sweep by the Nittany Lions. At No. 4 singles, Bryan Adams ’17 won his first set 7-5, but lost the next two 6-2, 6-4. For the doubles matches, Max Kane ’18 and Max Haase ’19 lost in a close 6-4 match. Palmer and Andrei Vitiuc ’19 also lost 6-4 in their doubles match.

Vitiuc may have lost his doubles match, but has a promising record early in the season. Last week, he was named Patriot League Men’s Tennis Player of the Week.

“I feel like my fellow teammate, Andrei, has really stepped up his singles game by playing great tennis higher up the singles ladder,” Wright said.

Now it is time to see if the Bison can find their form again with matches against the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Hofstra University on Feb. 18. The Orange and Blue are looking to start a winning streak before their first conference match against Army on March 26.