BY BELLA SANTORO
With having made the playoffs 20 of the past 21 years, Stonehill men’s tennis is looking to make another run at playoffs this season.
“Our goal is definitely to make the playoffs again,” junior Ben Simmons said.
The Skyhawks have a current record of 6-4, with a 0-2 record in conference play. They have an action-packed schedule this month with plenty of conference games scheduled.
“There are still a lot of matches to be played this season, so it's too early to tell how this season will finish,” Simmons said. “We have big conference matchups this month which will be important for us to win if we want to make the tournament.”
Despite a slow start in conference play, the Skyhawks have had to handle other adversities on the tennis court as well.
“We have made it through most of our season without too much COVID interruption, until last week,” Simmons said. “We have such a small team this year, so our match this week against Bentley was postponed so we could field a full lineup in such an important match.”
With only seven players on the roster this year for men’s tennis, and the struggle for everyone to stay healthy has been a challenge itself; and it hasn’t stopped their success as a team.
“The team has done a good job of staying together and giving their all to make sure we can put out the best lineup possible,” Simmons said.
When the Skyhawks are healthy and at full-force on the courts, it’s hard to beat a team that plays so well together and has so much talent.
“In all of our wins this year, we have started strong by winning the doubles point and then taking that momentum and bringing it into singles play,” Simmons said. “Our strongest performance of the season so far was our match in Florida against Saint John's, who was 6-1 coming into the match. We took the doubles point early and then swept singles play winning the match 7-0.”
The Skyhawks host Assumption University in a conference match up on Thursday, April 7 at 3:30 p.m.. After, they look to take down the Penmen of Southern New Hampshire University in another conference game at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13.
Besides the obstacles of this season, men’s tennis looks to finish strong with the remaining conference play this month and never losing sight of their goal: playoffs.
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