The John Carroll men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their spring season on Feb. 2 at Aspen Racquet Club against Wooster. Both teams fought exceptionally well but missed the mark as the women’s team fell 4-5 and the men’s fell 3-6.

This year, the women’s squad has an influx of young talent with freshmen playing in the top three spots of the lineup. The Lady Streaks went up 2-1 after doubles with wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots. Felicity Kolb ‘26 and Evelyn Deren ‘27 looked exceptionally strong winning 8-2, while veterans Kayley Gimbel (Graduate Student) and Caroline Chandler ‘25 pulled off an 8-4 conquest.

Singles might have been where the Blue Streaks lost the match, but they were not going down without a fight. Kolb took quick care of her foe 6-3 6-3 in the No. 4 singles spot and similarly, Chandler did as well in the No. 6 slot, winning 6-2 6-1. Despite only two victories in the singles lineup, the Blue Streaks experienced heartbreak with two nail-biting matches going Wooster’s way.

Sarah Sgambati ‘27 dropped a defeat with incredibly slim margins in an incredibly close match tiebreaker losing 7-5 2-6 (10-8) in her Spring debut at the No. 2 singles spot. In the climax of the dual meet, Gimbel experienced a similar heartbreak at No. 5 losing 3-6 6-4 (11-9).

“From the first match, I can tell that our team is going to be a tough out,” mentioned Kolb. “Right from the get-go, we put up an extremely close fight to a team we’ve historically struggled against.”

“I’m most excited to see how this team builds off this exciting energy and continues to improve in competition.”

The men experienced a similar defeat to a very strong Wooster team, but they were generally happy with a respectable performance. Things started rough at doubles going down 3-0, but the Blue Streaks had two of those matches decided by a single break of serve.

Logan Langovsky ‘24 and Grant Sarnowski ‘24 are looking to continue their doubles success together this season and ended up finishing their match down 8-6 at the top spot. Phil Gorun ‘26 and Griffin Millspaugh ‘25 also looked strong at the No. 3 spot, losing 8-6. Singles was a bright spot for the Blue Streaks as they split with Wooster and took three matches.

Langovsky was phenomenal in the debut, beating an incredibly formidable opponent in the No. 1 slot winning 6-4 4-6, 10-7. Sarnowski underwent another close match in the second spot just after his doubles partner, winning 7-6(5) 1-6 10-8. Langovsky and Sarnowski both lost to their respective opponents in the fall season and both redeemed themselves with victories here in the spring. John Carroll’s final win was won at No. 6 singles with newcomer Meriadec De Longeaux grabbing a dominant win for the Blue Streaks winning 6-0 6-2.

“I think the team did great from top to bottom of the lineup,” said Langovsky.“We were up against great competition who on paper had us beat no problem, but everyone played well and fought hard.”

“I am excited to get into our conference matches and see where we stand among those teams.”

The Blue Streaks’ men’s and women’s teams take on Ashland University on Feb. 9 at Aspen Racquet Club.