Men’s Tennis Excited About Upcoming Season

WESSON - The Co-Lin Men's Tennis team is coming off a 2022 season that saw the team finish 9-8 in the regular season and fifth in the MACCC. The Wolves also made it to the third day of the Region 23 Tournament before their season came to an end after a defeat by Meridian bringing their overall record to 11-10.

The 2023 Wolves roster features 10 players evenly split between four returning sophomores, one transfer sophomore and five incoming freshmen. The returning sophomores for the Wolves are Lawson Pearson (Wiggins), August Sullivan (Brookhaven), Walker Mitchell (Eupora), and Caleb Myers (Brookhaven). Marco Kalbermatten (Rafaela, Argentina) is the transfer for the Wolves via Wallace State. The five freshman for the Wolves are Landon Banes (Brookhaven), Colton Fuqua (Pontotoc), Brayden Johnson (Crystal Springs), Logan Case (Brookhaven), and Valentino Millimaci (Rafaela, Argentina).

Head coach Dana Hale is excited about the upcoming season for her team.

"We had a really good fall where we played some good matches and attended the ITA Tournament hosted by Meridian this year where we had some good results also," said Hale. "I was excited about seeing our players have some quality results during the ITA tournament including several of our freshmen."

"Landon Banes did well during that tournament, and I was really proud of his efforts. He is a young player, but he is very steady and has shown great leadership as a freshman," stated Hale. "Logan Case has come in and given us some very solid play on the doubles side along with Colton Fuqua."

"Our sophomores have been huge in helping the freshmen make the transition to college as well and helping us to set the standard both on the court and in the classroom," said Hale.

The Wolves will play a schedule that features ten conference matchups this season as the teams will play each other just once for standings, which is a change from previous years.

"This is a big change for us going into the season and it makes those matches matter even more because anything can happen on that day and if you lose that match then it could be huge. We are going to have to come prepared and ready to play every match," added Hale. "Another change for us involves the Region 23 Tournament where we will play eight teams instead of six, and both tournaments will be played on back-to-back weekends instead of at the same time so that is another new experience we have to look forward to this year."

The Wolves open the season on the road against Southwest in a nonconference matchup and then face off against Hinds in a nonconference matchup for their home opener on Friday, February 10.