MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Carleton College men's tennis program opened the 2024-25 season with a 9-0 victory at Concordia College-Moorhead. All nine Knights on the roster saw playing time, including a quintet of first-year players.
 
Newcomers Erza Bernhard, Akshay Garapati, Miles Lee, Aiden Patel, and Andrew Sretavan contributed to 8 of the 9 team points collected by Carleton (1-0, 1-0 MIAC).
 
"I admit that putting five first-year players into our lineup for the first match of the season was as risky as using a pack of Dachshunds for a sled dog team," noted Carleton head coach Stephan Zweifel, "but the 'wiener dogs' showed a lot of poise and came through with decisive wins."
 
Junior Jack Rivkin teamed with Garapati for an 8-4 triumph at No. 1 doubles. Junior Zach Leslie and sophomore Baiyun Jing prevailed at No. 2 singles by the same score. Patel and Bernhard completed the doubles sweep with an 8-1 result at the third slot.
 
In singles, sophomore Jasper Yang won in straight sets at the top spot by a 6-3, 6-4 score. The Knights won the other solo matches in straight sets as well as Sretavan (by a 6-1, 6-0 score), Patel (6-2, 6-0), Bernhard (6-1, 6-0), Garapati (6-0, 6-2) and Lee (6-4, 6-1) triumph at the second through sixth slots, respectively.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will head to the ITA Midwest Regional hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College. That four-day tournament begins on Friday, Sept. 27.