Some habits are just too hard to shake. The Georgetown men’s tennis team’s three tough losses in the Big East championship tournament were a microcosm of its tumultuous season.
Georgetown lost to Notre Dame in the opening round and then St. John’s and DePaul in the consolation bracket to give the Hoyas a last place finish in the tournament held at the University of South Florida tennis complex.
The Hoyas opened the tournament against No.1 seed Notre Dame and suffered a 4-0 defeat.
Georgetown’s first doubles team of Senior Eric Conrad and freshman Kevin Walsh lost a tough 9-7 match to give the doubles point to Notre Dame after the second doubles match ended 8-4.
In singles play, top-seeded sophomore Etienne Paris fell 6-1, 6-0, a result indicative of the entire team’s play.
The Hoyas could only win five games in singles play as Notre Dame cruised to an easy 4-0 win.
Not expecting to knock off the Fighting Irish, the Hoyas played the next day against St. John’s in the consolation bracket.
Conrad and Walsh easily won their only doubles match of the tournament, 8-2. The other two doubles teams, however, quickly fell, dropping 8-2 and 8-6 decisions to surrender the doubles point.
In singles play, sophomore Ted Tywang and junior Kevin Killeavy won their singles matches, sparking a short Hoya comeback with the score 3-2 in favor of St. John’s.
Sixth singles player freshman Kenneth Wong could not carry Tywang’s momentum; instead he lost in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to end the match in favor of the Red Storm.
The Hoyas lost again Sunday in a gritty 4-2 decision against DePaul .
“We expected to beat DePaul, at least. They’re not better than us,” Paris said.
The match began inauspiciously for Georgetown when the team of Conrad and Walsh lost the first doubles match 8-5. But the turning point of the match was when Walsh hit a ball over a court fence and was assessed a one game penalty much to the chagrin of the Hoyas.
“That penalty was really unfortunate, maybe even unfair. The match was so close then, it was hard to get around that,” Paris said.
Paris defeated his DePaul opponent, senior Eric Huffman 6-1, 6-2 to cap a successful singles season.
“I played well,” Paris said. “I was on a roll from the St. John’s match and I just continued it. It was a pretty easy match.”
Paris’ win was followed by Killeavy’s victory in fifth singles to tie the score at 2-2 after junior Bert Baggio was forcefully dispatched, 6-0, 6-1 by DePaul freshman, Austin Doerner.
The latest malady to strike the Hoyas this season reared its ugly head as Conrad head into his third set. Conrad broke the strings on his final racquet during his 4-6 loss in the second set. Playing with Tywang’s racquet, the uncomfortable Conrad could not muster even one set, dropping the deciding match 6-0.
“It was just unfortunate that Conrad broke his strings, he had to use Ted’s racquet, he really could have pulled that one out after winning the first set,” Paris said.
With three strong recruits already committed and Paris’ returning talent, next year’s Hoyas will be an improved bunch. With a new head coach and some consistency in instruction, next year’s team may be able to pull out the close matches and overcome the mental obstacles they were unable to master this season.