
With their best record in the past four seasons, the Soaring
Eagles Men’s Tennis team made leaps and bounds en route
to capturing a 4-8 overall record and a 1-7 record in the highly
competitive Empire 8. In addition the Soaring Eagles improved upon
every match result from the previous season while boasting two
selections to the Empire 8’s All Conference First Team.
Capturing 4 of their last 7 matches to finish the season, the
Soaring Eagles were led by
Gabe Cortes ’11 (Miami, FL -- Miami Country
Day) and
Eric Klinedinst ’12 (York, PA –
Northeastern). As a doubles team they compiled an overall
record of 8-3, 6-2 in the Empire 8, helping them earn Empire 8
First Team honors for doubles.
In singles,
Cortes and
Klinedinst continued to have impressive seasons.
Cortes once again proved himself to be one of the
conferences elite players as he went 9-3 on the season, not
dropping a set in any of his 9 wins en route to being named to the
Empire 8 All Conference First Team for the second year running.
In his inaugural season with the Purple and Gold,
Klinedinst played with the poise of a seasoned
veteran. At the No. 2 singles spot,
Klinedinst compiled a 6-5 record, 4-4 in the
Empire 8, with three of his four conference losses coming in three
sets.
The future looks bright for this young team as key players
continued to improve though out the season.
Ryan Patterson ’11 (Brattleboro, VT
– Brattleboro Union),
Matt Montgomery ’12 (Elmira, NY -- Elmira
Heights) and
Mike DeWitt ’11 (Queensbury, NY –
Queensbury) all made great strides this season as they
combined to capture 6 wins including 2 match deciding victories.
As a doubles pair, the duo of
Patterson and
Montgomery came on strong late going 3-4 to end
the season while capturing back to back victories to help seal wins
over Utica College and SUNY Oswego.
Having graduated no players this season the Soaring Eagles will
look to the team’s two elder statesmen in
Mike Lesslie ’10 (Seneca Falls, NY
– Seneca Falls) and
Pat Moore ’10 (Chateauguay, QC –
Millbrook School) for valuable leadership.
With their entire starting lineup returning for next season, the
Soaring Eagles Men’s Tennis team will look to improve
upon an impressive season with the hopes of once again returning to
the postseason.