Tennis team looks for new results with new head coach

BOSTON, Mass. - The Wheelock men's tennis team returns the three top players from last year's team as the Wildcats look to make a run at the New England Collegiate Conference title under first year head coach Sean Duke-Crocker.

Junior co-captain and number one singles player Wilson Chang (Lee, Mass.) finished third in the NECC tournament in 2009 with four wins in the number one spot. Duke-Crocker will be looking for consistency and leadership out of Chang as the season begins. Senior co-captain Kate Needham (North Conway, NH) and sophomore Bobby Venning (Greenfield, NH) will round out the top three singles positions, while Senior Jessi Ritucci, junior Lauren Webber, and sophomores Kevin Kareckas, Irene Gonzalez and Rachael Zuckerman will battle for the remaining three spots in singles competition.

“We have really been working hard in the pre-season,” Duke-Crocker said. “I love the way the team is coming together.” Duke-Crocker, a 2003 graduate of Connecticut College, is focused on improving on the team’s consistency and will to win. “We are not going to focus on the scoreboard as much as we will check ourselves after every match. If we can say that we left it all on the court and played our hardest, then no matter what the scoreboard says we will have won. That being said, if we play our hardest, we will win the other scoreboard as well.”

The team will start off the NECC season on March 27th with a home match vs Lesley College at 1pm