The Wright State tennis teams split a pair of match ups against Detroit Saturday in Southfield, MI. The men won in dominate fashion (6-1), while the women’s team took only one singles match from the Titans in a 6-1 loss.
The men’s team (12-6, 3-0) made quick work of the Titans (4-11, 0-3), dropping only one singles and doubles match apiece on their way to a sixth-consecutive win. WSU is now tied for first place in the Horizon League with Green Bay.
“There’s a lot of fight in the guys. They play with a lot of heart and they truly play for each other,” Head Coach Sean McCaffrey said. “It’s a group of guys that have all stepped up on different days. The biggest thing is how cohesive they are as a unit, and I think when you have that, you have guys that are willing to work a little harder.”
For the second consecutive week, junior Hayden Joblin was named the Horizon League Player of the Week after his efforts against Illinois-Chicago and Valparaiso in singles action. With his singles victory over Detroit’s Alex Latosinsky and a doubles win over Latosinsky and Mike Basha, Joblin now has 15 singles and 12 doubles wins on the year.
McCaffrey said one of the keys to Joblin’s success is becoming a more efficient player, which has made Joblin more self-assured on the court.
“I think the big thing with his mechanics and the way he is hitting the ball as good as he’s been since his freshman year, he’s really improved his backhand,” McCaffrey said. “He’s really become a lot more solid on the backhand side, which now means he doesn’t have to run around and hit as many inside-out forehands. He’s saving himself some footwork and extra stress on the body. I think, because he has done that, he’s developed a new weapon. Plus because he’s been hitting the ball as nicely as he has been, his confidence has gone up. He’s really coming into his own and I’m really proud of him.”
The women’s team (6-11, 1-2) did not experience the same fortune as the men against Detroit. Alex Bastock proved the lone bright spot for the Raiders on the afternoon with a victory over Chloe Karoub in singles play.
WSU sits in sixth place in the conference standings—exactly where they were predicted to finish before the season.
Despite the results, McCaffrey said not to read too much into the box scores.
“Looks can be deceiving,” McCaffrey said. “We have a women’s team that has a whole lot of heart. With the injuries and the setbacks we’ve had with healthy bodies, the one thing the women have done day in and day out, is compete. I think only once this season have I been disappointed with the effort or the level of competition that we’ve tried to produce. If somebody were blind coming into it, they would come to one of our matches and they would probably see a group of women who are constantly fighting, constantly working and full of spirit and effort.”
