The season got off to a rough start for the UW Oshkosh men’s tennis team Feb. 2 as they lost 6-3 to Carleton College (Minn.).

Carleton College was ranked 10th in the Midwest preseason rankings.

The Titans went 1-5 in singles matches with the lone victory coming from junior Kevin Lewis at No. 2 against Andrew Hwang.

Lewis won his match by winning two straight sets.

He won by a tiebreaker in the first set 7-6 and dominated the second set winning 6-1.

Overall, Lewis thought his play was where it needed to be early on in the season.

“For the first match of the year I think I did okay,” Lewis said. “It was just nice to get out there and compete again. I am very excited to practice and improve as a team,” Lewis said. “We have a lot of potential and talent.”

Junior Bobby Brooks, the No.1 singles player, had a close singles match in which he lost on a tiebreaker in his third set.

Brooks said the match came down to just a few points.

“There was a couple of hard fought points that changed all the momentum of the match,” Brooks said.

Oshkosh went 2-1 in doubles with points from the teams of Brooks and Lewis at No. 1 doubles and sophomores Mike Gillespie and Aidan Sauberlich at No. 2.

The doubles pair of Brooks and Lewis had a solid showing, winning by a score of 8-4.

“It took us a little while to get settled in but since it was the first match of the season, we kind of expected it,” Brooks said. “We all played well but we all have things we can do to get better in practice. I am excited for this season.”

Head coach Steve Francour, who is entering his 23rd season at Oshkosh, said he thinks the team is on the right track but improvements need to be made going forward.

“The team played well in doubles and we were close in our singles matches, but we have some work to do,” Francour said. “I expect that we will get better with every match we play this year and we will compete and do well against other state schools.”

The Titans next matches are Saturday against Edgewood College and Lawrence University at the Oshkosh YMCA Tennis Center.