Men's Tennis Takes First in Three Flights at Hope College Invitational

The Hope College men's tennis team opened the 2024-25 season by producing one singles champion and two runner-ups at its two-day invitational over the weekend.

A Flying Dutchmen doubles team won the top doubles draw during the event and another won a second draw.

On Friday, the Orange and Blue played at Holland High School in five separate draws of 16 players (A-E). Matches progressed in a tournament style, eight-game pro sets with a tiebreak at seven games all. Finals were played like regular season matches.

On Saturday, the Hope men made the short trip back home to the DeWitt Tennis Center and Vande Poel-Heeringa Outdoor Courts for doubles play. There were three draws with 16 teams (A), 12 teams (B), and eight teams (C). Matches progressed in a tournament style, with a single six-game set with a tiebreak at six games all.

Hope College was represented in the Singles Draw A by sophomore Paul Schneider (Fishers, Indiana / Hamilton Southeastern HS) and sophomore transfer Ned Curley (Plymouth, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central), who each picked up first-round wins before falling in the quarterfinals.

In Draw B, senior Austin Becksvoort (Holland, Michigan / Holland Christian) and sophomore Rylan Doden (Fort Wayne, Indiana / Blackhawk Christian) each made the third-place match, where Doden bested his teammate,8-6.

Freshman Karsten Patel (Birmingham, Michigan / Birmingham Seaholm) represented Hope College in Draw C and battled to a runner-up finish after falling 6-3, 7-5.

In Draw D, freshman Blake Smith (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan / Birmingham Seaholm) reached the finals before falling 6-3, 6-2. Senior Charlie Schmude (Traverse City, Michigan / St. Francis) played to a third-place finish, with teammate Blake Smith falling in the finals 3-6, 2-6.

The Flying Dutchmen struck paydirt in Draw E. Freshman Hank Mast (Kansas City, Michigan / Liberty) battled for a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) championship victory. Junior Hunter Napieralski (Chelsea, Michigan / Chelsea) took third place.

In doubles, Hope took two of the top podium spots in Draw A on Saturday.

After ousting teammates Schneider and Doden in the semifinals, sophomore Alec Maynard (Northville, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) and sophomore Cooper Nugent (Rochester Hills, Michigan / Rochester Adams) defeated Trine University's top pairing in the championship match. Schneider and Doden secured the bronze.

In doubles Draw C, Mast and senior Jonathan Eggleston (Yuseong Gu, Daejeon, South Korea / Taejon Christian International School) stormed to a 6-2 victory in the championship match.

The Flying Dutchmen next will play in the ITA Central Region Tournament on Friday-Saturday, Sept. 20-21. The event is hosted by Washington University in St. Louis.

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Players Mentioned

Austin Becksvoort: Senior; Chemistry - ACS and Engineering

Rylan Doden: Sophomore

Jonathan Eggleston: Senior; Public Acct/Business

Hunter Napieralski: Junior; Biology

Cooper Nugent: Sophomore

Charlie Schmude: Senior; Accounting/Business

Paul Schneider: Sophomore

Ned Curley: Sophomore

Karsten Patel: Freshman

Alec Maynard: Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Austin Becksvoort
: Senior; Chemistry - ACS and Engineering

Rylan Doden
: Sophomore

Jonathan Eggleston
: Senior; Public Acct/Business

Hunter Napieralski
: Junior; Biology

Cooper Nugent
: Sophomore

Charlie Schmude
: Senior; Accounting/Business

Paul Schneider
: Sophomore

Ned Curley
: Sophomore

Karsten Patel
: Freshman

Alec Maynard
: Sophomore