The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

Men’s Tennis

Men’s tennis (12-6) met expectations, finishing third in the conference, the same place they were ranked in the preseason. They finished 8-2 in conference play, and were the runner-up in the ODAC Tournament, falling to first place and lone undefeated team Washington and Lee University. This season, the Quakers won their most overall matches since 1996, an obvious improvement from last season’s 5-10 finish.

First-year Jon-Anthony Thomas made an immediate impact in his debut season, posting a 10-3 overall singles record (eighth best in the league) and an 8-1 singles record in ODAC play. Senior Levi Bruff, a recipient of Guilford’s 2017 English Athletic Leadership Award, went 10-8 in singles, 7-1 in conference singles. The three-year team captain also competed in 21 doubles matches, collecting wins in 13. He leads the team with 23 wins total.

Of their dozen wins, they shutout six opponents. The team bought in together as shown by their 35-29 doubles record. Bruff and teammate Aaron Smedley went 9-3 together this year. Even with Bruff’s exit due to graduation, the team looks to return much of this season’s talent in 2018.

Thomas, along with fellow first-year Tate Godwin and junior Mesa Martorell all end the season on win streaks of three or more singles matches. There is a lot of promise shown by this strong, youthful Quaker tennis team.