WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's tennis team is set to start its 2022 spring season on Saturday, February 12 under the direction of first-year head coach Todd Kane.

Kane, the owner and program director of TK Tennis Academy, has always wanted to get into college coaching and this was the perfect opportunity to take over as the next head coach of Wilkes men's and women's tennis.

"We are the only school within 300 to 400 miles that has an indoor facility to train at," Kane said. "I think everyone is just really excited to get going, they have been playing so much more tennis than they played before."

Wilkes went 9-3 overall last season. Sophomore Cole Gibson (Pinecrest, FL/Miami Palmetto Senior), a First Team All-Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) selection last season and sophomore Jacob Bosler (Elkton, MD/Elkton) will serve as the team captains.

"Cole will play one or two singles and Jake will play in the four or five area and I expect big things, they are going to do real well this year," Kane commented about his captains.

Last season Gibson went 8-2 overall in singles, all from the No. 1 position and had a 9-3 doubles record. He went 3-1 at the MAC Individual Championships in the fall to place second at No. 1 singles. Bosler was 7-3 in singles from the fifth and sixth positions and went 1-0 in doubles last year.

The rest of the roster is made up of four first-year players, four sophomores and one senior for what is a very youthful team but full of raw talent. Connor Murphy (Denver, PA/Cocalico) is the senior, Drew Fiedler (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg), John Toussaint (Dallas, PA/Dallas Senior), Ian Williams (West Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area), and Donovan Zong (Bethlehem, PA/Salisbury Township) are sophomores, and Connor Frey (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley), Nick Putney (Norfolk, MA/King Phillip Regional), Nathanial Rathe (Lincoln, NE/Lincoln Southeast), and Rodniel Senson (Houston, TX/William B. Travis) are the first years.

"We have a bunch of young guys that are going to get in the lineup," Kane said. He expects at least three, maybe four of the first year players to be in the lineup on Saturday.

Kane described Putney as a big power player with a big serve and said Rathe is steady everywhere and a good doubles player.

Frey, Rathe, Senson, and Toussaint all went 2-1 at the MAC Individual Championships in the fall while Bosler and Putney were 1-1. The team of Gibson and Murphy placed second at the conference event at No. 3 doubles by going 2-1.

The Colonels will start the season welcoming the University of Scranton to the TK Academy on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. for a non-conference match. Wilkes will face 11 other non-conference opponents during the season including Division I Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. on April 2nd.

Wilkes, who was selected second in the MAC Freedom Preseason Coaches' Poll, will begin its seven-match conference slate on April 3rd against FDU-Florham in a match held at Drew University. The Colonels will face MAC Freedom favorite Stevens Institute of Technology on the road on April 9th.

The Colonels had 12 consecutive conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances between 2008 and 2019 before having their impressive streak snapped last season with a MAC Freedom Semifinal loss to DeSales.

"Our conference is very good, I do think it is important for us to get outside the conference and challenge ourselves a little bit," Kane said of the 2022 schedule.

Kane knows there are teams that can challenge them within the MAC Freedom but ultimately he is confident in his team saying, "I like my team, I like my roster, I think we will navigate it very well."