Last Saturday, the Goshen College men’s and women’s tennis teams started off their spring season with a win.

The teams traveled to Terre Haute, Indiana where they competed against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. 

The teams competed indoors, since the temperature was in the low 20s. The men competed with a full lineup of six, while the women went in short-handed with four players, since three players were unable to compete.

Meaghan Godzisz starts her serve. Photo contributed by Justin DeWeese

Despite having to forfeit courts, the women still pulled ahead, beating Rose-Hulman 5-4. The men won as well, coming away with a 6-3 victory.

Because Rose-Hulman isn’t a part of the Crossroads League, the Leafs faced a slightly different scoring system. In Crossroads League scoring, whichever team wins two out of the three doubles matches receives a single point towards the final score. 

On Saturday, each doubles match was scored individually, meaning that there were three possible points up for grabs. Additionally, the doubles were played in eight-game sets instead of the traditional six-game set.

The men were 1-2 after the doubles sets were completed. The singular point was scored at No. 3 doubles, where Mario Gomez and Matija Margetic walked away with an 8-4 win. Kevin Bollmann and Pedro Scattolon faced a close match, but ultimately lost at No. 2 doubles with a 7-8 loss (4-7 in the tiebreak). Additionally, Insee Akarapan and Filippo Gallo lost 4-8 at No. 1 doubles.

The women’s team finished doubles with a 2-1 lead. Szofia Kallai and Sude Aytekin pulled away with an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles, while Sarah Hinshaw and Carmen Aliaga also won at No. 2 doubles with an 8-4 victory. No. 3 doubles was forfeited for the women due to lack of players.

The top three players on the men’s team were first to take the court for singles. Scattolon put the Leafs on the board early at No. 3, with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Margetic, while hanging close in the first set, ended up falling short at No. 1 with a 4-6, 1-6 loss. Gallo faced a tough battle at No. 2, but after two tiebreaks and a super-tiebreaker, won a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 10-6.

The men were 2-3 going into the final three matches, and the bottom of the lineup quickly brought the team to victory. Bollmann made short work at No. 4 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Gomez, with his 6-0, 6-0 victory, was the only player to have what is considered a double “bagel” win — his opponent’s scores looked like bagels. Akarapan was the last player to finish for the team at No. 6, securing the match for the men with a 6-3, 6-0 win.

Since No. 5 and 6 singles were forfeited, the women went into singles losing 2-3 in the match at-large. 

Aytekin was quickly able to even the score up at No. 1 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Aliaga also saw success at No. 3 with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Kallai fought from behind, but fell short at No. 2 with a 2-6, 6-2, 9-11 loss.

The score was tied 4-4 going into the final match, where Sarah Hinshaw was playing at No. 4 for the Leafs.

The score was close, but Hinshaw fought hard to win her match 6-4, 7-5, giving the Leafs the overall victory- — the women’s fourth victory this season.

The teams are only slated to play one more match this season, just before the spring semester wraps up. Both teams will compete at home against Bethel University, a Crossroads League opponent, on April 22. The match will be head coach Evan Atkinson’s last at GC.