The Mercyhurst College men’s tennis team started off their season with an impressive 9-0 win over Penn State Behrend on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Behrend.

 

The Mercyhurst men’s tennis team has a steep difference in expectations from the end of their season last year to the beginning of this year after a rough offseason.

 

“This summer we lost both our top player and our top recruit over the summer, and that is not something easy to recover from. It’s made things a lot harder for us this year,” Head Coach Ray Yost said.

 

Despite this adversity, the team started off strong in their first match against Division III Behrend.

 

“I thought the match was going to be very close, but the guys played very well and turned in a very impressive win,” Yost said.

 

The men’s team had some very impressive performances from seniors Mijo Cotic, Ronald Heurich and Kyle King, as they all won their singles and doubles matches in straight sets.

 

The men’s top doubles pair Cotic and junior Adam Marnik started off sloppy in their doubles match but overcame an early break of serve to win the match, 8-6.

 

The men’s second pair of Heurich and King had less trouble, as they won their match with ease, 8-1.

 

In singles, Cotic won at #1 singles with little trouble, winning 6-2 and 7-5, Heurich won 6-4, 6-4, King won 6-2, 6-4 and Marnik won 6-1, 6-2.

 

“The guys are really going to have to play hard and play good consistently if they want a chance at winning matches this year,” Yost said.

 

The men’s team will continue its season at the Allegheny Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 12 in Meadville, PA.

 

“I think we can use this upcoming tournament to win a match or two and build in a positive direction for the guys,” Yost said.