The men’s tennis team split two matches against William Jewel and Nebraska Wesleyan on Feb. 21 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The team was supposed to face off against Ottawa University on Feb. 28 in Baldwin City, but it was cancelled due to bad weather.

The match against William Jewel was close as the opponent walked away with a 5-4 victory against the Baker men.

In doubles matches against William Jewel, junior Michael Draper and freshman Blake Barnard won their match 8-6 to give Baker an edge. Freshman Thomas Irick and junior Aaron Greenbaum lost their match 8-5 to even things up. Finally, sophomores Gavin Webster and Austin Keberlein won their match 8-4 to put Baker back in the lead. However, in singles matches, William Jewel finished strong.

Barnard and Keberlein were the only Baker men who won in singles matches while Draper, Irick, Webster and Greenbaum all took losses in singles matches.

Against Nebraska Wesleyan, the Wildcats rolled to an 8-1 victory.

In doubles matches, all Baker doubles teams walked away with victories. The team of Draper and Barnard won 8-4. The team of Irick and Greenbaum won its match 8-6. Finally, the team of Webster and Keberlein won its match 8-1 to put Baker ahead 3-0 against Nebraska Wesleyan.

In singles matches Barnard, Irick, Greenbaum, Webster, and Keberlein all won their respective matches against Nebraska Wesleyan. The only Baker tennis men’s athlete to lose a match against Nebraska Wesleyan was Draper.

Although the Baker men split the weekend, head coach Joe Ahmadian was happy with his team’s performance overall.

“I was proud of the way our men performed this weekend,” Ahmadian said. “We were one point away from beating NCAA Division II William Jewell but things didn’t go our way. I was happy with how we were able to move on to the next match and take care of business. Freshmen Blake Barnard and Austin Keberlein each went 4-0 on the day and are starting to get comfortable competing at the college level.”

The men’s tennis team will next face Washburn University in Topeka on Friday.