It would be nice if everyone responded to adversity as the AU Men's Tennis team has, by running out to an 11-3 record and jumping atop the Patriot League standings.
Following the announcement of the future cutting of their program in late February, the Eagles have won 11 of their first 14 games, including all three PL games, which tied them for the best record in the PL with Saturday's foe, Army.
AU's trip to West Point is followed by Sunday's trek up to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on fellow PL foe Colgate, which currently sits a half-game behind the league leaders at 2-1.
"I'm not going to lie - this is a huge weekend for us," said senior star Juan Jaysingh. "We need to step up and play well and hopefully come out with a couple of wins."
AU goes into the weekend on a positive note, having beaten Lafayette on Wednesday to run to a perfect record in the early PL season.
The biggest challenge for AU will be playing at Army, then driving four hours to upstate New York and playing again the next day.
"We played three back-to-backs over spring break, so hopefully that will prepare us for this weekend," Jaysingh said. "The older guys have experience with this, and we'll try and carry it this weekend."
Jaysingh was recently named PL Player of the Month for his spectacular play since the announcement of the elimination of the program.
"I've been building up my play over the past month and it's helped the team," he said. "If we win this weekend, it's good for us, but we're looking at the bigger picture, which is the Patriot League tournament and the NCAAs."
Ever since their 4-3 loss to Hampton on March 20, the Eagles have won five straight, three coming against PL teams, to continue their strong play.
After the announcement of the program's elimination, the Eagles struggled to come together and rally around a school they would not be playing for in a year, but they have regrouped and used the announcement as a motivator.
"We're just going out and playing tough, and so far it's worked," Jaysingh said. "I really think that it'll make us better people and a better team."
That better team gets one of its first real tests this weekend at Army and Colgate.
