WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's tennis team is set to start its 2023 spring season on Saturday, February 18 under the direction of head coach Todd Kane in his second year.
 
With the loss of key players from last season, Kane mentioned "It's going to be a lot of fun working with guys that are going to be regulars that maybe thought that they would just get a few matches in, now they're going to get to play a lot."
 
Wilkes went 10-8 overall last season, going 4-2 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play.
 
"It's a great opportunity for them to improve, it's all about self-development, and we are really going to work on getting each individual better."
 
The roster for the Colonels this season consists of only juniors and sophomores.
 
Amin Ali (Jenkins Twp., PA/Wyoming Seminary), Connor Frey (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley), and Nathanial Rathe (Lincoln, NE/Lincoln Southeast) make up the sophomores on the team. Last year Frey went 6-11 overall in singles, and 6-5 in doubles. Rathe went 10-8 overall in singles and 10-10 in doubles last year. In MAC Freedom play, Frey went 1-2 in singles and 2-1 in doubles. Rathe was 4-1 in conference singles and 5-1 in doubles.
 
"Nate and Conner will be at the top and Donovan will be somewhere in the middle, those guys will have a great opportunity to get better and to improve before we get reinforcements coming in next year."
 
The juniors of the team are Drew Fiedler (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg), Dominic Tyner (Kunkletown, PA/Pleasant Valley), Ian Williams (West Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area), and Donovan Zong (Bethlehem, PA/Salisbury Township). Fiedler went 2-0 overall in singles and was 2-0 in the MAC Freedom in singles. Williams was 0-1 overall in singles and 0-1 in conference singles. Zong was 1-5 overall in singles and 1-3 overall in doubles. In conference play, Zong was 1-1 in singles and 1-1 in doubles.
 
Fiedler went 1-1 in the MAC Individual Championships in the fall of 2022. Jonah Nguyen (Enola, PA/East Pennsboro Area) also returns as a junior as he last played on the team during the 2020-21 season, winning his only singles match that season.  
 
"This year's schedule is pretty tough, and I think we're going to prepare those young guys for the MAC."
 
Wilkes will start the season welcoming Moravian University to TK Academy at 12:00 p.m. for a non-conference match Saturday. The Colonels are set to face five other non-conference opponents throughout the season.
 
Kane mentioned that there are matches in the MAC that they have good chances of winning and others that will be challenging.
 
Wilkes, who was selected fourth in the 2023 MAC Freedom Coaches' Preseason Poll, will begin its seven match conference slate on Saturday, April 1 when they host Stevens Institute of Technology at the Ralston Athletic Complex for a 12:00 p.m. start.