Even amidst all of the weather and inability to get on the court for practice,
Waynesburg University Men’s Tennis went on the road for an afternoon match on
Thursday, April 4, at Penn State Altoona.
In this effort, the Yellow Jackets came up short, falling 9-0, and dropping to a
record of 1-7 on the season thus far.

Of those competing in the match, Ethan Lown and Adam Huckestein did not win
their doubles match but were able to manage three series in the eventual 8-3 loss.
On top of that, Lown picked up another three series in first singles, however still
dropping the match 6-3.
This effort was very much recognized by his contingent. Hughes commented on
how Lown and the performance and effort he puts on the court keeps him and his
team in matches.

“He’s [Ethan] a competitor,” senior Shane Hughes said. “He always knows he has a
shot because he always does have a shot. He always recognizes the mistakes that
he made and later in the match, he doesn’t do them again.” Hughes said.
Hughes continued to say how Lown contributes and helps the team.
“He’s very self-reflective during matches, and he can put together some nice
points.”

Lown also had much to say regarding his effort on the day, noting that every moment of his first singles match specifically was hard fought.

“My singles match with Penn State Altoona was definitely a battle. There were a lot of close, competitive games,” Lown said, while still believing that this match was not a result that cannot be improved upon later in the season, “I think on another day, I’m able to pull out the win.”
For Hughes and his teammates, they are simply trying to get as much time on the
court as possible. On top of their season being condensed into a “five-to-six-week
window” according to Hughes, tennis, like the rest of the spring sport athletes,
have had their practice areas become temporarily unusable due to the flooding in
the area.
With a five-match stretch coming up in 11 days, Hughes is hoping he and his team
can practice and improve.
“We haven’t had any practices this week. We had a match on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday got rained out, and we had a match yesterday.” Lown said.
He later commented on how the team needs to prepare for the remainder of the
season.
“We kind of started out strong, a lot of practices in a row and a lot of matches in a
row, then we got these two breaks, which I think we beneficial for us, but going
forward, we have to have the mindset that there’s virtually no off days at this
point. We have a lot of matches coming up and we have a lot of practices and a lot
of work that can still be done.”
Before the men can begin their four-match stretch on the road to close the
season, they will be home on Sunday evening for senior night against Washington
& Jefferson. Match time is slated for 5 p.m. For those like Lown, it will certainly be an experience he is hoping to cherish.

“It’s a surreal feeling that senior night is approaching so quickly. It’ll be fun to play in front of a fantastic group of supporters,” Lown noted.