Lewis & Clark men’s tennis is serving up a record-breaking start to their spring 2024 season. With their 6-1 win over the University of Puget Sound (UPS) Loggers on Saturday, March 1, they have had their strongest 10-match start to a season since 2017.
The season started off well on a team trip to Texas, playing a non-conference tournament where players picked up a 3-1 overall victory and only lost once, 6-1, to Trinity University. However, since that loss, the team has been riding high on one of their best seasons in years.
In the Northwest Conference preseason poll, LC was picked to finish third in the conference this year, while their opponents last weekend were picked to tie for seventh. But rather than rest on an easy prospective victory, the team chose to come out swinging. LC’s Athletics department is also taking notice — the first men’s tennis player to be named Pioneer of the Week in the 2024-2025, Joey Lyon ’27, was given the award last week (Feb. 27).
“We have very high goals for this season,” Coach Jimmy Chau said via email after their first game. “I am very proud of the fact that we continue to push and continue to challenge ourselves to be better both on and off the court. We’re trying to be process-oriented, and our goals aren’t necessarily to win a certain number of matches or get a certain ranking, but to bring the best versions of ourselves everyday.”
All three doubles teams secured victories over their Logger opponents, with Wade McDermott ’26 and Kai Wills ’26 achieving the largest margin of victory (6-1). The duo earned the #1 doubles spot in the tournament, and were praised in LC Athletics’ coverage of the event for helping the team pull ahead in conference rankings to 5-1.
The teamwork required to pull off a doubles win is far removed from the individual skill and strategy that secures a singles victory, but on the LC team, most players develop both of those skills by playing in both kinds of matches.
“In a sport that is sometimes individualistic in nature, teamwork and culture has to lead the way for us,” Chau said.
UPS players scraped back a few points in singles matches, however, defeating Noah Sutin ’27 in first singles. Despite this, McDermott, Wills and Arnav Bishnoi ’28 secured the team’s victory in the second, third and fourth singles respectively. The last two singles matches were also LC victories, featuring Max Furman ’27 and Bennett Gazor ’25, making their first appearances of the day, as they were not involved in the three previous doubles matches.
The team has been enthusiastic about a strong start to their season, and their coach attributes it to a significant team effort over preseason.
“The work we put in during the offseason was a noticeable difference from more (of our) guys this year,” Chau said. “We continue to raise the standards and expectations for our guys and are trying to be more intentional about why we do things. Staying disciplined and focused will always be the challenge for us.”
Men’s tennis is looking forward to a busy weekend, hosting Whitworth University on Saturday, March 8, at 11 a.m. and Whitman College on Sunday, March 9 at 11 a.m. In particular, Whitman poses a threat to LC’s players, as they have been picked as preseason favorites in this year’s conference. However, our coaching staff still have faith in their team’s abilities and hard work.
“As a coach, I probably learn more from our players than they learn from me,” Chau said. “But generally speaking, I continue to learn that balance and perspective will always carry you through the day. The key is that balance and perspective means something different to everyone, and at the end of the day, only the players can dictate how this experience will play out for them. They control their own and the team’s fate more than they know.”
With multiple upcoming events on campus, men’s tennis encourages the community to come out and support athletes as they aim for an upset conference victory.
“We’d love for folks to come down and watch our matches!” Chau said. “Our fellas put a lot of time and energy into representing our program, and it would be cool to show them some love!”
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