Coming off their first Commonwealth Coast Conference crown in a decade, the Roger Williams University Men's Tennis team looks to make it back-to-back titles this spring. Entering the season as heavy favorites and returning every starter from the 2020-21 roster, RWU appears poised to once again be among the conference's best.
 
"We are really excited to start our season and defend our CCC Title," said Head Coach Barry Gorman. "Spring break will be a great, early test for our team as we will play some strong schools and will be pushed in both singles and doubles."
 
The losses for this Roger Williams squad have been few and far between over the past couple of seasons. In their fall slate, the Hawks went 2-1 with dominating wins over Regis and UMass-Boston while also going toe-to-toe with Division-II Stonehill, falling 5-4. Previously last spring, RWU rolled through the regular season and conference tournament going 10-0 outscoring the competition 79-7 along the way before falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In addition, they benefit from the rare luxury of not losing a single starter from a group that is the reigning conference champions and instead supplemented their current core with underclass depth.
 
"We have a great group of returners as well as new freshman who look to contribute," Gorman said. "We are very excited to open our season this Saturday."
 
Singles
The 2022 Men's Tennis team features some tremendous depth in singles play but it all starts with their All-CCC duo at the top in Jon Trevethan (Berlin, Conn.) and Dan Tocco (East Quogue, N.Y.). They may simply be the best two players in the entirety of the Commonwealth Coast Conference and the proof is in the results.
 
The reigning CCC Player of the Year, Trevethan has occupied the #1 singles spot since he stepped foot on campus in 2019, and for good reason. He stands at 15-4 during his career in Bristol, including 12-1 since the beginning of last season and on a point-by-point basis, he outscored the opposition 120-18 last spring.
 
If Trevethan is the #1 option for RWU, Tocco would be #1A, and he is undefeated in 13 singles matches since the start of last spring. In that span, he has outscored his opponents 160-47 and has dropped just a single set.
The thing that sets this Hawks squad apart from many of their opponents is their depth, and they have several options to turn to throughout their lineup. Last spring, the #3 singles spot was occupied by Tyler Cain (Montpelier, Vt.) and while he slotted in as the #6 singles competitor in the spring, he should still be a crucial member of the team's success. In his time in Bristol, it does not matter where Coach Gorman slots Cain into the lineup because he just wins, standing with a 13-5 record in singles play and was 7-3 last season on his way to All-CCC Second Team honors in singles. The Hawks' other returner that started in the fall is Ryan Schuck (Glastonbury, Conn.). Slotting in either at the fourth, fifth, or sixth spot in singles since last season, Schuck is undefeated, going 12-0 in that span including nine wins last spring outscoring his opponents 109-25 along the way.
 
RWU features some terrific depth pieces who saw limited match action during the fall as well, one of whom is Arlex Correa (Lynnfield, Mass.). An all-conference second teamer in the spring, Correa went 8-2 last season but notched just a single match in doubles this fall. Junior Jake Bernard (Redding, Conn.) also played a big role last spring, going 5-0 in the regular season, though he did not appear in the fall. The final returner who saw action last season is Ben Chiasson (Bristol, Conn.) who went 3-0 while competing in the #6 singles position.
 
A pair of freshmen burst onto the scene during action in the fall. Matt Glassman (West Hartford, Conn.) stepped in and immediately took over the #3 singles position and went 2-1 during the fall slate of matches. Meanwhile, Alex Smith (Bedford, N.H.) also went 2-1 playing at both the singles #4 and #5 positions.
 
Doubles
Like their singles lineup, Roger Williams features excellence at the top with outstanding supplementary depth that makes them very difficult. And also, like singles, they are topped by the best tandem in the CCC in all-conference first team-doubles honorees, Trevethan and Tocco.
 
The two were matched up with each other to start last spring and they reaped the benefits, going undefeated until the NCAA Tournament. When paired together, Trevethan and Tocco are 12-2 and have dominated the opposition outscoring them, 90-33 in that span including five shutout victories.
 
Correa and Schuck appeared as the #2 doubles group last spring for RWU, going 8-3 along the way. The Hawks did utilize a different pairing at #2 singles this fall however, matching Schuck with Glassman and while they did go 1-2 together, they were competitive nonetheless and lost their two matches by a combined score of just 16-9.
 
One half of the men's tennis team's third doubles duo is likely to be Cain who is 20-7 in his career in doubles regardless of who he is paired with. Last spring, he was complemented exclusively by Nick Cristante (North Haven, Conn.), a partner with whom he went 9-2 with while taking 81 of the 119 sets played. In the fall, Cain matched with Smith twice, going 1-1, and paired with and won with Correa once.
 
Overall
With a battle-tested and proven championship-caliber group of returners alongside talented, supplementary freshmen who have already made an impact, this year's Roger Williams Men's Tennis squad may well be even better than the championship edition of the team from a season ago. And with seemingly limitless depth, RWU should be a force to compete with all up and down their lineup.
 
"We are really excited to start our season and defend our CCC title," Gorman said. "We have a great group of returners as well as new freshman who look to contribute."
 
The Hawks will return to the court on Saturday, February 19^th when they battle Emerson. Then, following their Florida Spring Break Trip and two more matches back in New England, they will get back on their home court on March 29^th to battle Gordon at 4:00 PM.