Men's tennis team loses to George Washington University

After losing three doubles matches, the men's tennis team won two of its singles matches and ultimately lost to Atlantic 10 conference rival George Washington University in a 5-2 decision on Saturday.

Seniors Sebastien Fauchet and Jesse Feder won 7-5, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-4 respectively, giving the Spiders their only victories of the day.

Richmond has only six healthy players currently, so each player had to play an eight-game doubles match and then a best two-out-of-three sets singles match immediately after. Feder said he had been worried before his singles match about the long afternoon in front of him.

"For some reason I felt drained today, so I knew I had to end it in two sets," he said. "Three sets would not have ended well."

Men's tennis coach Ben Johnson said George Washington, which is ranked 49th in the national college tennis rankings, was a tough team. While he said he thought his team did well in singles play, he said the goal for his players was to peak in time for the A-10 tournament at the end of the season.

The team, wearing T-shirts and shorts, played on a blustery afternoon at the Richmond College tennis courts, but was not affected by the low temperatures.

Cries of "Let's go Richmond!" and individual encouragement for each player could be heard from all of the courts.

The Spiders are 8-9 this season and 3-4 in A-10 match play. The team's next match is at Longwood University Tuesday, March 26 at 2:30 p.m.

Contact reporter Renee Ruggeri at renee.ruggeri@richmond.edu