The IVCC Men’s Tennis Team is coming off of a successful 2017 campaign, and the 2018 team is looking to find similar success with a much different lineup.

Last year, the team boasted a solid group from top to bottom of the lineup, causing many issues for many of their opponents. The team sent all of its players to the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Texas and they were able to bring home a few wins as well.

As for this year, however, the team is scrambling to recover after losing a whopping six players from last year’s team.

After the departure of Joey Meyer, Krueger Keene, Nick Munson, Max Moskalewicz, Tyler Doughty and Chris Moshage, the team now consists of mostly freshmen.

The only two returning sophomores are Aaron Pellican and Nick Needs. Pellican played No. 2 Singles and No. 1 Doubles last year alongside Joey Meyer and Needs was No. 3 Doubles alongside Chris Moshage.

With a young freshman squad, there will be some growing pains, but head coach Julie Milota has high hopes for this year’s team.

“The team is working hard and could pull off one of our greatest seasons yet,” Milota said. “We have a talented group of guys who all have a will to win. If we can work out some wrinkles in our game, we will come into this season nice and strong.”

Joining the team alongside Pellican and Needs is sophomore Frederick Becker, and freshmen Mason Clark, Joe Lashonse, T.J. Moran and Ryan Coon. Head coach Milota is thankful to have a couple of her stronger players from last year returning this year and said,

“Pellican and Needs are doing a good job of leading the younger guys. All of these new faces will be relied on heavy to help the team achieve its goal of getting to the National NJCAA Tennis Tournament in Georgia.”

A full schedule and roster can be found on the IVCC Athletics page.