Matt Sarrazin stood alone at the Tennis Center at College Park on March 26, locked in a third-set tiebreak with then-No. 18 North Carolina’s Andrew Crone.
The Terrapin men’s tennis team’s upset bid was knotted in a 3-3 tie, with the sophomore’s match at No. 6 singles set to provide the decisive point in the overall match against the powerhouse Tar Heels.
But in line with the Terps’ established history as a conference cellar-dweller, Sarrazin couldn’t do enough. He dropped the tiebreak 7-1, as the Terps fell for their third of 10 straight regular season conference losses.
In many ways, the defeat mirrored the team’s uneven 13-13 campaign. The Terps could compete with some in the powerhouse ACC, but any greater hope for conference prominence was still beyond their reach.
“To have this many guys that a lot of people said weren’t talented enough to compete, we showed that with hard work we can get to the level where we made the matches competitive,” first-year coach Kyle Spencer said.
Following a 13-2 start against mediocre nonconference opponents and Boston College — the program’s best start to a season since 1986 — the Terps faltered when they arrived at the meat of their schedule.
After holding a spot for three weeks in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s weekly poll, the Terps (1-10 ACC) quickly dropped out in the midst of an 11-match losing streak to close the season, including a first-round loss in the ACC Tournament.
For a team with scant upper-level experience, the Terps could never keep pace with the league’s hardened upper echelon. The team had only one upperclassman — junior Graham Knowlton, who had played in just three combined doubles matches prior to this season — and five of the team’s eight players were freshmen.
“I think it’s more inexperience [than youth],” Spencer said. “We had eight guys not used to playing big-time tennis, but they were able to match the level of some of the better teams in the conference.”
From the season’s disappointment comes a positive outlook going forward — a rarity for a program which, following yesterday’s announcement of the NCAA Tournament field, has still never qualified for the tournament as a team.
This season saw the emergence of Finnish freshmen Tommy Laine and Jesse Kiuru, Spencer’s first recruits, as nationally recognized singles players. Laine, along with fellow freshman John Collins, made sporadic appearances in the nation’s singles rankings throughout the season.
The Terps are expected to return their entire roster next season and Spencer said he hopes the addition of his first full recruiting class will help improve on their .500 overall record. For the first time since 1992, the team did not finish the year with a losing record.
“This season was a step in the right direction for the program,” Spencer said. “With added talent and another fall of development, I fully expect us to not only be able to compete but win matches and be in the top half of the ACC.”
Sergio Wyss, who spent time rotating from No. 1 to No. 4 singles throughout the season, said the Terps should only improve with the arrival of new talent and the continued development of what they already have.
“We had a very good start to the season with a young team that didn’t have a lot of college experience,” said Wyss, who suffered a match-ending tiebreak loss like Sarrazin’s against William & Mary on Feb. 14. “Once the ACC really got tough, we had some close matches but lost. I think we’re on the right path, though.”
The Terps will enter the offseason with the memories of a forgettable conference slate still lingering. But after decades of irrelevance, Spencer managed in his first season to make strides in guiding the program toward his goal of national prominence.
“My goal will never change wherever I’m coaching,” said Spencer, who came to College Park after three seasons as an assistant coach at perennial power Baylor. “That is to win the league title and to compete for a National Championship. Until we’re in that position, I’m not satisfied.”
cwalsh@umdbk.com
