FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Goshen College men's tennis team started its 2021 season Saturday with an outing straight out of a Charles Dickens novel, sweeping the University of Saint Francis 7-0 and falling to Indiana Wesleyan University 6-1 in a Crossroads League tri-match at the Swinney Park tennis center in Fort Wayne.

Kevin Bollmann and Jonah Anderson were double winners for the Maple Leafs (1-1, 1-1) in the opener, emerging with straight-set wins in both singles and doubles action, while Mario Gomez posted a shutout "double-bagel" win in his collegiate debut at no. 3 singles.

GC opened its season by sweeping the doubles matches, although it had help since USF only had four players and as such defaulted the no. 3 doubles match. The Maple Leafs won both contested matchups 6-2.

The results were only marginally closer on the singles courts, where the Maple Leafs outscored the Cougars 48-11 in games and won all eight sets in addition to the two defaulted positions. The lone holdover from the 2020 lineup, Wesley Beck, posted a 6-1, 6-2 win at the no. 4 spot.

In the second match of the day, Mother Nature turned up the heat — it was 75 degrees at the start of the first match and 85 degrees with a heat index of 93 at the start of the second — while the Crossroads League schedule-makers also dealt the Maple Leafs a tougher opponent in the form of NAIA eighth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan.

The Wildcats (1-0, 1-0) dropped one game in one doubles match and blanked the Maple Leafs in another, although Anderson and Pedro Scattolon pushed their opponents to within one service break of the match in a 6-4 loss at no. 2.

Four Indiana Wesleyan players won twice in that match. The Maple Leafs stretched four singles sets out to at least nine games: Bollmann lost 6-4 in his second set while Anderson and Beck each had 6-3 first sets.

Goshen's lone win of the afternoon match came at no. 3 singles, where senior Josh Friesen picked up the win by retirement at 5-5 of the second set with a match tiebreaker looming. IWU was up 6-0 in the team match at that point.

IWU swept Saint Francis 7-0 in the final match of the triangular.

Goshen returns to action in a pair of non-conference matchups this week, hosting Indiana Tech at 1 p.m. Wednesday and traveling to meet Holy Cross at 4 p.m. Friday.

Full Results – Match 1: Goshen 7, Saint Francis 0

Singles
1. Kevin Bollmann def. Tannon Dishman 6-2, 6-1
2. Jonah Anderson def. Jerod May 6-3, 6-2
3. Mario Gomez def. Will Daigle 6-0, 6-0
4. Wesley Beck def. Steve Mullaney 6-1, 6-2
5. Goshen by default
6. Goshen by default

Doubles – Goshen wins team point 3-0
1. Bollmann/Friesen def. Dishman/May 6-2
2. Anderson/Pedro Scattolon def. Daigle/Mullaney 6-2
3. Goshen by default

Full Results – Match 2: #8 Indiana Wesleyan 6, Goshen 1

Singles
1. Martin Carrizo (IWU) def. Bollmann 6-1, 6-4
2. Leonardo Sprovieri (IWU) def. Anderson 6-3, 6-1
3. Josh Friesen (GC) def. Isaac Steiner 0-6, 5-5, retired
4. Karl Wurth (IWU) def. Scattolon 6-1, 6-1
5. Alex Serwatka (IWU) def. Gomez 6-1, 6-1
6. Ethan Gray (IWU) def. Beck 6-3, 6-1

Doubles – IWU wins team point 3-0
1. Carrizo/Sprovieri (IWU) def. Bollmann/Friesen 6-1
2. Steiner/Wurth (IWU) def. Anderson/Scattolon 6-4
3. Serwatka/Justo Villanueva (IWU) def. Beck/Gomez 6-0