Every time senior Jeremy Kochman steps out onto the court, he knows it could be his last match.
The crowd’s cheers echoed throughout Lewis Tennis Center. Kochman let out a cheer himself as he won his set against Colgate University’s Jacob Daugherty.
He turned to his teammates to celebrate.
“Today was an amazing team win for us in front of our home fans,” Kochman said. “With the crowd on our side, we knew bringing energy would allow us to play our best tennis.”
Lehigh men’s tennis defeated Colgate 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament on Friday.
Lehigh entered the Patriot League Tournament as the fifth-seeded team facing the fourth seed Colgate. In their previous matchup against Colgate, the Mountain Hawks were unable to secure the doubles point but won singles in order to get an overall win against the Raiders.
Kochman’s performance against Colgate played a large role in the team’s victory, according to Lehigh coach Wouter Hendrix. He was able to stay composed throughout his three sets to defeat Daugherty.
Colgate came out strong in the doubles flight, winning two out of three to secure the doubles point.
But the Mountain Hawks fired back and won the first four flights of singles to grasp the 4-1 win over the Raiders.
“We came out with energy but unfortunately lost the doubles points,” Kochman said. “After being down 1-0, we battled our way back into the match and were able to win a lot of the pressure points. Jack did his thing and put us on the board and gutsy three set wins from Colin and George ultimately gave us the win.”
Kochman defeated Daugherty (6-4, 0-6, 6-4), sophomore Jack Peterson defeated Colgate’s Nick Laub (6-4, 7-5), freshman George Cooper defeated Colgate’s Noah Rosenblat (5-7, 6-4,6-4) and junior Colin Nardella defeated Colgate’s Bobby Alter (6-7(3), 7-5, 6-0). Junior Tyler Hansen was leading 6-3 against Colgate’s Jake Hirschberg and junior Ethan Bogard was down in his second set against Win Reynolds but both matches wre not completed after Colgate had already secured the win.
With the win the Mountain Hawks advanced to the semifinals for the seventh time in the past decade, but lost to defending champion Navy 4-1.
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