As the home stretch of the regular season nears, the men’s and women’s tennis teams are battling for one of four spots in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament. The men’s team is currently 3-10 overall and 2-2 in conference play, while the women’s team is 7-7 overall and 3-1 in their conference matchups.
Head coach Mike Guastelle, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams, praised the underclassmen on the women’s side who stepped into key roles this season.
“We’ve had some good depth through the lineup, and we’re getting some good production,” said Guastelle. “And what’s good is you can see our confidence growing within the group, and I think we can do something in our conference tournament if we get there.”
The women’s team had five wins last season and has already topped that number with the back half of the season to go. Junior captain Milana del Olmo emphasized the welcoming environment of the team and how that reflects on the court.
“The main thing we’re working on is positivity, which seems really simple, but is important with tennis being a very mental sport,” said del Olmo. “We have this rule on our team to be ‘uncomfortably loud,’ cheering each other on and making each other laugh, which I think has helped us a lot.”
The positivity is translating, as the women have won seven out of their last 11 matches after starting the season 0-3. They look to keep up the momentum as they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Sunday to take on Marist University in a conference showdown.
As for the men, they have struggled in close matches, losing 4-3 in five of their losses.
“In the 30 years I’ve coached, I’ve never had that happen,” said Guastelle. “It shows we’re very competitive, and this is a really good group of guys who are working hard to beat these teams.”
Senior captain Paul Goncalves praised Guastelle for his trust in the players. He emphasized that freshmen like Martin Macias, Darren Huang, and Tomasz Garbacz are seeing playing time, which is uncommon on other teams in the MAAC.
“We’re constantly pushing each other,” said Goncalves. “This group still believes, and we know we have a good amount of the season to go.”
Source: Contributed by Paul Goncalves, ’26
The Pios have four more conference matchups to get back on track, and that starts on Sunday when they take on Marist in Poughkeepsie.
“We’re going to show up in every one of these matches,” said Goncalves. “The mentality is different here. We’re not just going to show up to show up, we’re going to show up to win.”
This past weekend, the men’s team went 2-0, beating Merrimack College on Saturday and rallying from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Quinnipiac University 4-3 on Sunday. The women’s team lost to Quinnipiac on Friday but was able to earn a forfeit win against Merrimack on Saturday.
“Be prepared for us, because we’re coming in hot,” said del Olmo. “We have so much energy, especially because we’re a young team, that we really show up when it matters.”
Athletic Communications contributed to this article.
