GETTYSBURG, Pa. The Gettysburg College men’s tennis team will return to the courts for the first time in over a year this Saturday, March 20, to open the 2021 season at Centennial Conference opponent Washington College at 1 p.m.
The 2019-20 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with a new season on the horizon, the Orange and Blue will be looking to rebound from last season.
“Our goal is to play high-energy tennis and make every match competitive,” said Head Coach Ali Flores, who is entering her third season with the men’s tennis program. “We want to make the best of this shorter season and enjoy every moment.”
The spring schedule consists of seven conference matches that start this Saturday and run through Saturday, May 1.
Gettysburg enters the campaign with a roster that is mainly filled with first-years and sophomores who are getting acclimated to collegiate tennis, but who are also looking to fill roles alongside some upperclassmen.
“We’re a very young team that doesn’t have a lot of collegiate experience,” noted Flores. “We’re working hard at practice by putting ourselves in match-like situations.”
The returning leaders looking to guide the Bullets squad this season are senior Patrick Bodovitz (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) and juniors Zach LaChance (Pittstown, N.J./Delaware Valley), Alec Shalk (Milton, Del./Smyrna), and Max Levy (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte). The trio appeared in the starting lineup in half the matches or more last season with Shalk leading the team with three singles wins.
The Bullets were picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in the conference’s preseason poll. Johns Hopkins was a unanimous choice with seven first-place votes.
No fans will be allowed at athletic contests hosted by Centennial Conference institutions this spring.
This story was originally posted on the Gettysburg College Website.