WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
GAMBIER, Ohio — The Kenyon College men’s tennis team opened its 2022-23 campaign by hosting and participating in the Kenyon Invitational. The Owls were one of seven teams involved in the singles and doubles action, played both indoors and out, over Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday, Sept. 18.
Kenyon fared well on its home courts, posting a .697 winning percentage in singles as the team went a combined 23-10. Four Owls finished the weekend with flawless singles records. Sophomore Rakkan Audeh and senior Luis Andres Platas led the way by going 3-0 in singles, while sophomore Rishil Kondapaneni and first-year Paulo Pocasangre went 2-0.
Evan Dean, Thomas Kallarakal, Christophe Leblanc, Harshal Rukhaiyar, Jacob Smith, and Eric Zhang each finished with a 2-1 mark. Eliezer Gonzalez was an even 1-1, while Aidan Biglow finished 0-3.
The Owls won nine of 15 matches in doubles play, good for a .600 winning percentage. Kenyon rolled out eight doubles pairings, with four duos going undefeated. Platas and Gonzalez, a first-year, finished with a team-best 3-0 mark as a doubles pair. Leblanc and Zhang, a pair of sophomores, were 2-0. Leblanc was also 1-0 with Audeh as a partner, while Bigelow, a senior, and Kondapaneni also finished 1-0.
Audeh and Smith matched Kallarakal and Pocasangre with a 1-1 mark. Kondapaneni and Zhang were 0-1 as a duo, while Dean and Rukhaiyar were 0-3.
The Owls have two more events scheduled in 2022. Kenyon is set to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region Championship, a three-day event from Friday, Sept. 23, to Sunday, Sept. 25 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Owls are also set to compete in the Denison Invitational on Sept. 24-25 in Granville, Ohio.
