While the Hamline Women’s Tennis team’s serve fell flat, the Men’s Tennis team found their sweetspot. However, the Men’s team did not start the weekend on a high note. On Friday, Feb. 23, the Men’s team went toe to toe with the fourth ranked team in the MIAC, Saint John’s.

The Johnnies hailed the doubles to set up their defeat of the Pipers, but sophomore Jake Trondson, senior Matt Seracki and senior Gabriel Guarin struck back by racking up three wins in singles. With Saint John’s also adding three wins in singles, they took control and emerged victorious with a 6-3 win over the Pipers.

“The team needs to improve on mental toughness going into matches. Not everything will go smoothly, congratulate the opponent for a good point or shot ad adjust your game plan throughout the match,” Seracki said. “We need to improve on keeping our intensity up on the court.”

Hamline certainly brought intensity the following day in their match against Wartburg College. After claiming all the matches in singles competition, the Pipers showed what they were capable of. The team also dominated the doubles by winning two out of the three competitions. All of this gave the Pipers a nice 8-1 win.

“A few things attribute to our success We have had a lot of practice time already some teams are not as strong throughout their lineups. We have a strong top lineup and good depth at the bottom to be about to put in three to four different guys to compete,” Seracki said. “Also a big reason for our success this year is Jake Trondson transferred in and is playing great singles and doubles. With him competing well, we have chances to make some serious upsets this year and make a playoff push.”

While the Men’s Tennis team was finishing up for the day, the Women’s team was just getting started to go up against St. Kate’s. The Pipers held the advantage going in as the seventh place team in the MIAC, while the Wildcats were ninth.

“We have a lot of strengths. We are improving on weaker aspects from last season,” junior Claire Witt said. “We have really strong players that you can learn from just by playing with them.”

Once the match began, it was clear that the Wildcats had no intention of staying the ninth place team. St. Kate’s only gave up one singles competition to first-year Ali Kopiecki and marked the rest with a ‘W.’ While the Wildcats claimed a 8-1 and surged to sixth place in the MIAC, the Pipers fell to tenth place.

“We are learning from past matches and there are skills we have learned from those matches,” Witt said. “I don’t see it as how can I prepare for this one school, I think of this as how can I make myself a better tennis player.”

Hamline’s Women’s Tennis team returns March 2 at 4 p.m. at Baseline in Minneapolis against St. Olaf, which holds the number ten spot in the MIAC. The following day at 11:30 a.m., the Men’s team will battle against Crown at Baseline.