Men's College Tennis
New Jersey Institute of Technology 7, Rider University 0
NEWARK?The Rider University men's tennis team opened the 2008 fall season with a non-conference loss at N.J.I.T. Tuesday afternoon. “The matches were fairly competitive,” said head coach Ed Torres. “N.J.I.T. has everyone back and added a few players as well.”
For the Broncs, junior Will Haight (Sewell/Washington Twp.) won seven games at number three singles with senior number one Casey Jedlinski (Manalapan) and junior fourth singles player Marc Ashed (Vineland) each winning six
Sophomores Christopher Esposito (Ocean Grove/Neptune) and Robert Olsen (Marlton/Cherokee) teamed up for an 8-4 win at third doubles.
“Casey had the best match of the day,” Torres added. “He played Steve Erickson who is a former state champion and they are both power players and they spent three hours just slugging it out. The score didn't really indicate it but each point was highly competitive and it was a close match as almost all of our matches were. Casey's match especially was fun to watch.”
Jedlinski, a 6-1 Biology major, is going into pre-med after graduation and actually started over the summer by ?doctoring his game' to bring a healthy relaxed outlook into the new season.
“Last year Steve basically destroyed me,” said Jedlinski. “I trained all summer long with the intension of leaving a decent mark since this is my senior year. I worked on my ?power game' and was able to make it more of a competitive match. If we were a few matches into the season, I would have had a better chance to beat him. It was a fun match.”
Jedlinski lost to Erickson 6-0, 6-1 on September 15, 2007 however the Broncs defeated the Highlanders 4-3. Jedlinski was third on the Broncs with five wins in singles competition during the 2007-08 season.
As the number one singles player, Jedlinski has adapted to the role while maintaining his love of the game. “I am working on just relaxing and having fun since this is my last season,” Jedlinski added. “I am just going to go out and play.”
“We only had six or seven practices,” Torres added. “We did pretty well as a team and as we go along, the scores will get closer.”
The Rider women were also scheduled to face the Highlanders but were forced to scrimmage N.J.I.T. instead after the Highlanders could only field four players with five being the minimum for an NCAA match.
The Rider women host Monmouth on Thursday at 3:00pm and both the Rider men (0-1) and women host Delaware State on Sunday at noon on the Lawrenceville, New Jersey campus.
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