The Georgetown men’s tennis team headed up to Providence, R.I. this past weekend for the Margaux Powers Memorial Tournament. Hosted by Brown University, the tournament was an early chance for Georgetown’s young team to gain some confidence going into the season. Coming off a mediocre showing in the Georgetown Classic the previous weekend, Georgetown played hard to finish the weekend 2-1.

Georgetown outlasted Stony Brook in its opening match, 7-6, after four and a half grueling hours of play. The Blue and Gray’s victory snapped a two-game losing streak against the Sea Wolves.

The young Hoyas took five singles matches and two doubles matches against Stony Brook. Among the new faces with a win was promising freshman Shane Korber, who won his match, 6-3, 6-3.

“Shane’s a fighter, he’s a good competitor,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said. “He’s just a kid who wants to get better.”

When the match ended at 2:30 p.m., the team had to rebound quickly to face a well-rested Brown squad.

Unfortunately for the Hoyas, the hosts would prevail by a lopsided 12-1 count. The bright spot was the No. 4 doubles team of Korber and fellow freshman John Brosens, which won its match, 9-8, 7-5.

The next day they played another tough opponent, Boston College. The Eagles were missing several players and ultimately proved to be no match for the Blue and Gray, who won, 7-2.

Two veterans, senior captain Andrew Bruhn and junior Charlie Caris, led the way for Georgetown in the rout. Bruhn won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Caris had a slightly tougher time, but ultimately prevailed, 6-7, 6-1, 10-5.

“Andrew Bruhn once again had another good win. He beat a guy who won three ACC matches last year. … He continues to be a great leader and a good captain,” Ernst said. “[Caris is] stepping up, and his game is back. It was a real positive to see him do so well.”

Caris and Bruhn weren’t the only Hoyas to play well against the Eagles. Ernst noticed several other positives from the early-season matchup.

“What I was impressed with the Boston College match was we really played good doubles,” Ernst said. “That’s the real positive, winning all three doubles matches. I mean, we never win all three doubles matches.”

The star of the weekend, however, was sophomore Andrew Dottino, who is coming off of a meniscus injury suffered over the summer.

“Dottino really brought his game. He crushed the BC guy. He beat up on the Stony Brook guy as well, and the Brown match went right down to a tie breaker in the third [set],” Ernst said. “I would give Andy Dottino the M.V.P. of the weekend.”

Despite the loss to Brown, Ernst is confident that this weekend will have a positive impact on his team.

“In the past, it’s been trying to push these guys to work. Now they show up and want to get better,” Ernst said. “If we can work like we’ve been doing, we’re going to put ourselves in a position to beat better teams.”

These tournament results give the Hoyas a boost going into next weekend’s Navy Invitational tournament, where they will play three tough local opponents in Navy, George Washington and UMBC.

“This weekend will be the test,” Ernst said. “We have a losing record to UMBC, George Washington has won the last two against [us] and Navy, we’ve gone back and forth with them every year.”