The No. 33 ranked Hobart tennis team faces off against The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) in Bristol Field House Saturday, March 9. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
 
The Statesmen are coming off two tough matchups against No. 10 Denison University and Division I Cornell University. In last week's matchup against Cornell, Hobart had many standout performances, including juniors Troy Steiner and Hyat Oyer, who narrowly fell in the No. 2 doubles position after forcing a tiebreaker. 
 
TCNJ is coming into the nonconference matchup after a 5-0 season start. The Lions closest match this season came on Feb. 18, when the Lions defeated Lafayette College 5-2. Most recently, TCNJ defeated RIT 8-1.
 
ABOUT THE STATESMEN 

• The Statesmen rank No. 33 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings (ITA).
• Two players to watch out for coming off singles wins are juniors Nick Grosso and Troy Steiner, who won in the No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions against the Big Red. 
• Senior Sean Pesin leads Hobart from the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles play. Most recently, Pesin fell to the No. 17 singles player in Division I, Radu Papoe.
• Pesin and sophomore Nick Fischer look to bounce back after falling to Cornell's Adit Sinha and Nathan Mao in the No. 1 spot. Previously, the Statesmen duo defeated the No. 8 ranked doubles team in the country, Ethan Green and Kael Shah of Denison, 8-6.

ABOUT THE LIONS

• The Lions are led by Matthew Michibata who is ranked No. 13 in the country for singles play. He recently claimed TCNJ's all-time wins record as he defeated RIT in the No. 1 singles and doubles position to earn his 145th career win.
• Michibata and Harrison Maitland-Carter are ranked No. 15 in the nation in doubles play by the ITA. The duo is 5-0 in dual matches this season.
• Adrian Tsui is 4-1 in the No. 2 single spot for the Lions. His lone loss of the season came to Lafayette's Nick McKenzie on Feb. 18.

SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday will be the 12th matchup between the Statesmen and the Lions. TCNJ holds a 9-2 advantage over Hobart, including a 3-1 edge in Geneva.
• In their last meeting, the Statesmen defeated the Lions 5-4 at TCNJ's Recreation Center.
• Fischer clinched the win for Hobart in the No. 5 spot, defeating Derek Jordan 6-3, 6-3.
• Pesin earned victories at the No. 1 singles spot as well as the No. 1 doubles position with partner Jett Wright '23. Pesin's thrilling victory over Michibata sparked a comeback in the regional battle.