Tennis Serving Up Strong Season

The Men's Tennis team is off to one of their most competitive starts in years, despite the large amount of young talent.

The team is currently 4-2 overall and has remained unbeaten at home with three wins. This year's team brings three new faces to the squad. Nathan Derstine, Darrel Miller, and Steven Stauffer are all freshmen and will soon be the future of EMU tennis. However, no player has been more loyal and important to the team than senior Ian Koons, who transferred from Christopher Newport University three years ago. "Ian's role is crucial; he has a lot of pressure to win. We need him to lead the way. His steadiness and maturity on the court has grown a lot this year and his results have shown it," said Coach Harlan de Brun when asked about his captain.

Koons has established himself as one of the top tennis players in the ODAC. This past week Koons defeated Tim Ross from Washington & Lee University, who is currently ranked 21st in the nation for NCAA Division III tennis. When asked about his goals for this year, Ian had nothing but positive things to say about the team: "This being my last year, one of my goals is to put the team in position to win every match. One of my goals is to just see the improvement from all the young players from the start of the year to the end. Personally, my own goals are to make everyone around me better and possibly get some awards for it."

With the team having only two upperclassmen, Ian Koons and David Bryan, the squad will look to reload the roster for next year. De Brun said, "Our young players are coming along, and with so many young players we also need them to step up and mature quickly." Their next match takes place at 3:30 Thursday afternoon when the team suits up to face Southern Virginia. The team's next four games are all at home.