WASHINGTON, Pa. -- With a seventh-place finish in the Presidents' Athletic Conference during the 2022-2023 season, the Washington & Jefferson College men's tennis team is eager to bounce back and move its way up the ladder under head coach Matt Lynch.

"I am excited to have the opportunity to coach at W&J College where there is a great history of athletic success," said Lynch. "I am looking forward to adding to that success."  

2023 Season Review: 

The Presidents finished the season with a 3-10 overall record and put up a 2-6 PAC conference record last spring.  

W&J began PAC play against the Saint Vincent Bearcats on March 28, dropping the conference opener 7-2.  

After losing three consecutive matches against Saint Vincent (7-2), Allegheny (9-0), and Grove City (9-0), the Presidents picked up their two wins of the season against the Thiel Tomcats and Waynesburg Yellow Jackets, with respective winning scores of 8-1 and 6-3. 

With a spot in the PAC Tournament on the line, W&J finished their regular season by traveling to rival Westminster yet fell short with a 7-2 score. The Red & Black picked up two doubles wins after an impressive tiebreaker victory that secured Abhinav Yarramaneni (Mountain View, Calif. / Los Altos) and Alex Duing (Pittsburgh, Pa. / South Park) an 8-7 (9-7) win at first doubles. Jackson Akers (Logan, W. Va. / Logan) and Connor Simms (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon McMillan) put the Presidents in a 2-1 lead going into singles play with an 8-6 win at second doubles.  

One President received recognition from the PAC following the 2023 season. Duing received distinction as a recipient of a PAC Sportsmanship Team award.  

2024 PAC Players to Watch: 

Jackson Akers (Logan, W. Va. / Logan) 
Alex Duing (Pittsburgh, Pa. / South Park) 

After impressive freshmen campaigns, Akers and Duing look to continue to lead the Presidents at the top of the lineup as sophomores.  

Akers was selected as PAC Rookie of the Week on March 27. In the fall 2023 season, the sophomore collected wins at third singles against Saint Vincent (6-3, 6-3), Franciscan (6-3, 6-1), and Penn State Altoona (1-6, 6-2, 10-8). Akers earned a first doubles win, teaming up with first-year Nick Kubik (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) against Saint Vincent (8-5).  

Duing received PAC honors for his performance in the 2023 season, receiving a spot on the PAC Sportsmanship Team. Duing earned two wins at fourth singles during the fall 2023 season, one against Franciscan (7-5, 6-1) and the other in a non-conference match against Penn State Altoona (3-6, 6-4, 10-5).  

Returners:  

W&J welcomes back six returners from last year's squad: Jackson Akers, Nate Clarke, Alex Duing, Mitch Kenney, Connor Simms, and Abhinav Yarramaneni. 

With the longest tenure on the team, Yarramaneni has had an impressive collegiate career thus far. As a first-year, Yarramaneni started in the upper half of the lineup and earned All-PAC Second Team for his performance in the 2022 season.  

The majority of the team comes from a strong sophomore class, consisting of Akers, Clarke, Duing, Kenney and Simms.  

Simms, a champion pickleball player, was named PAC Rookie of the Week on Feb. 28. 

Nate Clarke (New Kensington, Pa. / Valley) had an impressive high-school career, placing third in the WPIAL Doubles tournament in his senior year. As a President, Clarke was a consistent fourth and sixth singles player. Paired with Yarramaneni, Clarke contributed to several third doubles wins over the fall season against non-conference competitors Baldwin Wallace (8-3) and Penn State Altoona (8-6).  

Newcomers:  

The W&J men's tennis team welcomes three new players to the roster for the 2024 season.  

Nick Bussard Fr. (New Kensington, Pa. / Valley) 

Jiovanni DeChicchis Fr. (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Township) 

Nick Kubik Fr. (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) 

DeChiccis is a dual-sport athlete, also wrestling for Washington & Jefferson during the winter season.  

Coaching Staff: 

Matt Lynch enters his first season as the head tennis coach at Washington & Jefferson College for both the men's and women's teams. Lynch was named the new leader of the Presidents in late January.  

Lynch has a diverse coaching background, having served as a tennis instructor at Glen Creek Tennis Club since the summer of 2015. There, Lynch managed clinics and conducted private lessons for players across various ages and levels of play.  

At the collegiate level, Lynch played at PAC rival Grove City, even beating W&J for the 2015 PAC Men's Tennis Championship title. Lynch later transferred to Division II program West Liberty University, where Lynch was a consistent starter.  

Lynch graduated from California University of PA in 2020, where he served as a student assistant coach for the women's tennis program for nearly two years.  

Looking at the Schedule: 

W&J opens the spring season with a series of non-conference matches against Penn State Behrend (Feb. 23), Davis & Elkins (March 1), and Pitt-Greensburg (March 2) to gear up for PAC play. 

The Presidents are slated to begin PAC play on the road when they travel to compete against Saint Vincent on Sunday, March 24.  

W&J will play back-to-back conference home matches at the Janet Swanson Tennis Center when they host Allegheny on April 2 and Grove City on April 6.   

The Presidents will be back on the road on April 7 to compete against the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets but will be back on home courts to host Thiel on Tuesday, April 9. 

W&J will finish the season with a three-match week traveling to Geneva (Apr. 13) and Franciscan (Apr. 16) before closing out the regular season by hosting Westminster on Thursday, April 18.  

The six-team PAC Championship Tournament will begin on Tuesday, April 23.  

Last Word from Lynch:  

"I have a great group of self-motivated athletes that have shown me they are ready to work hard to accomplish our goals this year. We are all working hard to build a winning culture and we are expecting good results. GO PRESIDENTS!"