With his friend and high school nemesis freshman Michael Zhu of Michigan across the net, sophomore Dan Mamalat of the Marquette men’s tennis team acknowledged that this was a match that he could not afford to lose.
The USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships was already a big tournament, but this added incentive gave him the competitive edge he needed.
“In juniors I had lost nine straight times to him,” Mamalat said. “But I was able to pull it out, although it wasn’t easy. It gave me so much confidence and allowed me to improve.”
Mamalat won the match (6-3, 7-6), and showed the competitive nature that defined his fall season. He led Marquette in singles play as he was the only Golden Eagle at the ITA All-American Championships and the only one to compete at the top flight of the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional.
Although his regional campaign ended with a 2-6, 7-5, 4-6 loss to 14th-seeded Sam Keeton of Notre Dame at the ITA All-American Championships, Mamalat still led the Golden Eagles’ singles campaign throughout.
Coach Steve Rodecap said his fire can transfer throughout the entire team.
“I always joke with (Mamalat) that he has no backhand and no athleticism, but he’s still a very good player,” Rodecap said. “He goes out there and competes at a very high level. It rubs off on other guys, and hopefully as the season goes on our younger guys can be around. They need to be around him. He’s our sparkplug.”
The elite competition that he faced at the ITA All-American and USTA/ITA Midwest Regional motivated him to be better.
“I got to see what it takes to take my game to the next level,” Mamalat said. “You get to see how the best players react in certain pressure situations. They never panic. Even when it’s close, they always keep moving along and stay aggressive. Coach and I agree that (aggressiveness) is something I need to get better at.”
But that’s not all.
“Dan needs to work on his transition game, staying aggressive, and staying offensive on the serve,” Rodecap said.
Freshman Vukasin Teofanovic, of Serbia, cited Mamalat’s energy as a positive example for the team and a good quality that the less experienced players can emulate.
“Dan is the guy on the team who was there to pump people up,” Teofanovic said. “He had a great season and has a lot of energy. He taught us to be mentally strong.”
In doubles, Rodecap was pleased with the team’s effort but knows there’s work to be done.
“I was pleased with our doubles from our younger guys. We did pretty well,” Rodecap said. “We played pretty well at Notre Dame. We need to work on being more aggressive, and obviously there’s still things you want to improve on. But I was really pleased.”
According to Rodecap, the team’s four freshmen – Teofanovic, David Packowitz, James Stark and Cameron Tehrani – have succeeded even when competing in higher levels.
“Our four young freshmen are good and very committed,” Rodecap said. “They’ve posted good results in the fall. Now it’s important for them to know how to sustain good results, not just have one good weekend and then take a match off.”
For Teofanovic, Mamalat and Rodecap, Marquette must be more energetic in the spring. It was lacking in the fall.
“We’ve got to play every match, from wire to wire,” Rodecap said.
