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    POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 7, 2014) – The Vassar College men's tennis team will open its spring portion of the 2013-14 season with a match against Clark University and then on the road at United States Coast Guard Academy this Saturday and Sunday.

    The Brewers (2-0) welcomed their new head coach, Alex Wong, into their ranks this November. Wong comes to Vassar after an 11-year stay at Division II Bentley University (MA). "The transition has been good," Coach Wong said. "A lot of credit goes to Coach [Nick] Jasso for everything he's done. He obviously was the stable leader through the transition time for the team."

    Jasso, a 2013 English graduate of Vassar, remained active with the program upon his commencement from student to alumnus. He was named the assistant coach soon after the start of the fall semester.

    "I think we're really lucky that last year we had a big contingent of really good leaders," said sophomore captain Christian Phelps (Eau Claire, WI/Eau Claire Memorial). "Even though we went from freshmen to captains in one year, I think that we'll be able to navigate that role pretty well because we came off of such a good year before us."

    "We had four seniors who were a really big part of the team and who were good role models," said sophomore captain Daniel Cooper (Piedmont, CA/Piedmont). "We have Nick [Jasso] back this year which was great for us because he was such a great player and has always been such a good coach for me."

    The Brewers returned all six of last year's freshmen group in Cooper, Phelps, Jeffrey Gerwin (Fairfax, CA/Sir Francis Drake), Sean Hoy-Skubik (Wooster, OH/Wooster), Sha Huang (Austin, TX/Saint Stephens Episcopal) and Evan Udine (Delray Beach, FL/Boca Raton Community).

    Joining the returners from the 2012-13 season is junior Christian Lyon (Berwyn, PA/Conestoga). William Zhu (San Francisco, CA/Lowell) is Vassar's only other junior.

    Vassar welcomes five freshmen to the courts this year. Michael Kim (Collegeville, PA/Methacton), Juan Felipe Laso (Quito, Ecuador/Colegio American De Quito), Jim Lee (Middletown, RI/Middletown), Nick Litsky (St. Petersburg, FL/Shorecrest Preparatory School) and Alexander Luckmann (Berkeley, CA/Head-Royce School).

    In the fall, the Brewers recorded a 2-0 record in dual match play against Bard College and Yeshiva University. Both matches were won by scores of 8-1.

    Litsky won both his singles matches on day one of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Northeast Regionals at Ithaca College. However, he lost his third singles bout against Skidmore College's Oliver Loutsenko. Phelps and Litsky teamed in doubles to post a win on day one before being eliminated at the ITA's.

    At last year's meeting, the Brewers toppled Clark 7-2 with Cooper and Udine being the only returning players who won in singles. Coach Jasso and Cooper teamed in doubles for a No. 2 spot, 8-1 win while Phelps and Udine took an 8-2 victory at No. 3 doubles.

    The scheduled match against Coast Guard last year following Clark was cancelled due to inclement weather.

    "We need to make sure that we improve every single day and making sure that we continue to build upon the momentum that we created earlier on in the season," Coach Wong said. "I told the team that if we take care of business and continue to improve and focus on each and every single little goal we set, that end of the season, we would have accomplished what we wanted to accomplish."

    The Brewers will head to Fredericksburg, VA for the two-day University of Mary Washington Tournament on Saturday, February 22 and Sunday, February 23. Day one will be spent facing Mary Washington at 9:00 am and North Carolina Wesleyan College at 3:00 pm. Denison University will be Vassar's opponent on Sunday at 9:00 am.