Case Era Ready to Take The Court in 2025

The 2024 season saw the Co-Lin Men's Tennis team finish 12-6 overall, 6-4 in MACCC play and fifth overall in the conference standings. The Wolves won their opening match in the Region 23 Tournament and then lost back-to-back matches to finish fourth in the tournament and narrowly missing an automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament to finish 13-8 overall. However, the Wolves did receive an at-large berth and had a strong showing on the national stage including a back draw championship win by Arne Sohmer in singles. However, a new season is dawning for the Wolves and with it a new coach for 2025 as Tripp Case begins his first season at the reigns of the team. Case said he is excited about this season and this year's team.

"I think the men's team is going to have a great year because they have a similar makeup to our women's team and have me excited for a lot of the same reasons," stated Case. "Our returning sophomores are ready to build off the success from last season and we have a group of freshmen that have come in ready to contribute and work hard."

The roster for the Wolves includes ten players split evenly between sophomores and incoming freshmen with five apiece. Sophomores include Simon Cooper (Sumrall), Andrew Lambert (Monticello), Robert Adcock, Tristin Rollins, and Eli Martin all of Brookhaven while the freshmen are Ege Altas (Istanbul, Turkey), Mason Brand (Maben), Jake Bucek (Geelong, Australia), Nikoloz Gurgenidze (Tbilisi, Georgia), and Jax Leggett (Bogue Chitto). Case said each group brings a lot to contribute to the success of the team.

"I think it's really exciting when you have so many new faces that come in and are ready to contribute," said Case. "We have three new international players in Ege, Niko, and Jake along with Mason who have stepped in and made their presence known. Those four paired with Simon and Robert have been impressive but other guys are pushing them to constantly get better."

"It is such a long season that we are going to need contributions from everyone," added Case. "I am really excited how this group clicks together and the combinations that we will be able to field this upcoming season. We were able to get a lot of different combinations playing time throughout our fall season and I think that will lead to some great success this season."

Case said he's really excited for fans to come out and watch their three international players this season.

"When you watch those guys play, their court presence is top notch," said Case. "They show up when they need to and they rise to the challenge in tough points throughout each match and they are electric on the court especially in doubles play. I think that you will see a lot of high-level play out of our doubles combinations this season because we have seen that all of our doubles teams have shown a lot of intensity and enjoy playing against each other."

On his sophomores, Case had this to say.

"Having our returning sophomores back from a successful post season run has been huge for us too," stated Case. "Our guys got a taste of that success, and it has set the table and expectations for us going forward because they know the work it is going to take to get back there. Having those guys step up as leaders this season is valuable for our success on the court."

Case said that success for the men's team will come down to a few things.

"Our guys have seen what it takes to be successful, and they want to finish in one of those top three spots and earn an automatic bid to the national tournament," added Case. "There's some tough teams that we will be battling for those spots, but I like our chances with what we have displayed throughout our practices."

The season starts for the Wolves with a home exhibition against Alcorn State on Tuesday, January 28 with the first regular season match coming on the road against Coastal Alabama – South at the Mobile Tennis Center on Friday, January 31.