The Owls started their spring slate on a successful note.
Kennesaw State men’s tennis returned from winter break in dominant fashion on Jan. 31, only dropping one set in the first match of a double-header against West Alabama.
The event started with the doubles round and saw victories from Anthony Weingarten and Joel Gibson over UWA’s Federico Iturbe and Nuutti Jokinen 6-2, Harvey Conway and Hugo Salmeron over Vilislav Bonev and Wilson Igbinovia 6-2.
KSU’s Raul Garcia and Mikolaj Lis would not need to play out their final result but trailed 5-4 to UWA’s Lucas Hammond and Eita Ishikawa.
Leading 1-0, the singles round began for the Owls. In the first completed match, Salmeron defeated Ishikawa with ease 6-2 and 6-0.
In the second completed match, Sam Baldwin made his first appearance for the Owls this spring, defeating Jokinen in two sets 6-1 and 6-4.
The third completed match was between both teams’ first-liners Garcia and Hammond. Hammond held his own, but Garcia would be too much to handle winning in two sets 6-3 and 6-3.
“With Raul, there’s a lot of leadership there at the top,” KSU’s Director of Tennis Matt Emery said. “And I think he really helped lead the way today.”
The fourth completed singles match was a tight two-set battle between Lis and Igbinovia. In the first set, Igbinovia pushed Lis to a seventh game but fell 7-6. The second set was also a challenge but Lis prevailed 6-4.
Also making his first appearance this spring, KSU’s Joel Gibson defeated Bonev 7-5 and 7-6 to give the Owls their sixth point of the day.
In the final completed match, Brian Capalnean defeated Iturbe in the only three-set match of the event, 2-6, 6-2 and 6-2.
“I thought it was a really good first match, for a lot of the freshmen that was their first college match,” Emery said. “For us, we’re trying to come out and play loose and with no fear.”
The Owls continued their success later in the day with a 5-2 victory in the second leg of the double-header against UWA.
Expectations remain high this spring as KSU was picked to finish second in the ASUN conference by coaches.
