The 2020 Holy Cross men’s tennis season ended almost as soon as it started due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so there is not too much to recap. In fact, the team only had a chance to compete in two matches.
When asked about a season highlight, even head coach Eric Mahone admitted that the season was too short to have a specific highlight.
“With having only competed in two matches in our spring season we really didn’t have a chance for many highlights,” Mahone said.
Mahone did mention, however, that senior Jake Brown was playing at a high level, which was fun for him to watch.
Unfortunately for Brown and the other seniors, their tennis careers at Holy Cross are now over.
Coach Mahone discussed the pandemic’s effect on the team’s seniors.
“The abrupt ending to our season has been extremely hard on our seniors. Unlike at Notre Dame, Holy Cross does not have grad school,” Mahone said. “So even though [seniors] Jake Brown and Derek Wappel retain a year of eligibility, they will be unable to compete for us next fall. I was very excited to watch Jake and Derek compete this season. They helped build this program. We are indebted to them.”
Despite the shortened season, Mahone noticed some obvious improvements among his team compared to last year, and he also acknowledged some areas where the team needed to improve.
“We made huge strides in our level of professionalism from last year to this year,” Mahone shared. “As the season progressed, we were going to continue to work on our overall fitness.”
When asked about some of the team leaders, Mahone mentioned sophomore Dominic Gibson as the team leader and team captain.
Editor’s Note: Gibson is a sports writer for The Observer.
He said upperclassmen Brown and Wappel and juniors Ben Beekman and Mac Flannery exhibited strong leadership on a day-to-day basis.
Aside from his team’s performance on the court, Mahone shared how proud he is of his team’s accomplishments in the classroom.
“I am most proud of how our men have competed in the classroom,” Mahone shared. “The men’s team GPA for the fall was a 3.7 and 3.6 for the spring semester.”
