Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams put up strong fights against tough competition last weekend, when the women’s team hosted the Bison Invite on Sept. 15-16 and the men’s team traveled to Indiana to play in the Purdue Fall Invitational on Sept. 15-16.

In their previous tournament, the women started the season with a strong opener, advancing eight members onto the quarterfinal round. They hoped to bring that same intensity to the Bison Invite against Villanova.

The team of Mishi Papich ’19 and Cayla Koch ’21 finished 2-0 in doubles. They began the first match with a solid 6-4 win and swept their second contest 6-0. Koch furthered her success as she partnered with Lisa Jouravleva ’18 to post a 6-1 doubles. Koch concluded the weekend with a 3-1 record, all in doubles play, a strong start to her career as a Bison. Despite the doubles success, the Bison were unable to capture the title.

The team’s success is widespread, showing a group effort from students of all class years.

“Overall, I’m proud of our team so far. I feel that everyone has brought a distinct goal for themselves this year, which is a great way of finding something very specific to focus on and of charting our progress as we move through our training,” Papich said.

The women’s team has two weeks before they next travel to compete in the SJU Invitational from Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

“Although we didn’t come away with many wins, I saw a lot of good things from our younger players and from our doubles. The effort is there, we just need to focus on decision-making, commitment and confidence, which we’ll address this week and next as we prepare for St. Joe’s,” head coach Rebecca Helt said.

On the men’s side, Max Kane ’18 and Timber Erskine ’18 competed in doubles at the Purdue Fall Invitational. Kane and Erskine defeated teams from Chicago State and Washington University in St. Louis. These victories earned them a spot in the Flight B doubles semifinals on Sept. 16 where they dropped a hard-fought battle against a strong Butler duo that went on to win the bracket.

Daniel Wright ’18 and Ben Gerber ’18 battled a doubles team from Purdue to a 6-4 loss. They concluded going 1-2 in flight A doubles.

“To be honest, I was hesitant going into Purdue because my game was not at the standard that I wanted it to be. However, I feel more confident about my game after this weekend compared to how I felt going into this weekend,” Wright said. Head coach Bruce Myers echoed the idea that his team gained confidence despite the tough competition at Purdue.

“We are moving forward in the right direction and I come away from each fall competition with a laundry list of things to work on to help my student-athletes improve and excel on court,” Myers said.

The men’s team will travel to Vestal, N.Y. for the Binghamton Championships on Sept. 22-24.