While most first-year athletes take a while adjusting to the speed and intensity of college athletics, Colton Malesovas showed his ability to play collegiate-level tennis right away. The only problem for Malesovas was that he entered a team that had won four consecutive Northwest Conference Championships, and a roster full of returners that could provide a fifth.

“I was challenging guys that were above and below me, but there was no reason to change a lineup we were winning with. In hindsight it makes sense, but during it, it sucked,” explained Malesovas, who is now a sophomore.

This year, however, Malesovas hasn’t just cracked his way into the lineup; he has burst in and earned the number one singles spot.

“This summer, I went home back to my academy. I didn’t have an internship or anything, so I was really lucky to spend the whole summer playing. I would do seven to 10 in the morning for three hours, and one to four in the afternoon, five days a week. [Last season] I felt I was knocking on the door, and it put me over the edge,” said Malesovas.

Coach Jeff Northam echoed the same train of thought, explaining that the reason Malesovas didn’t play last year wasn’t that he wasn’t good enough, but rather it was because the team was playing at such a high level.

“He was a victim of our success last year. We had such a great year, going undefeated all year in Division III, so he never really got a chance to play,” said Northam.

Now, Malesovas spearheads another lethal Whitman team that is a perfect 9-0 in the conference and also boasts a number 15 national ranking.

Part of the reason that Whitman has become the gold standard for men’s tennis in the Northwest Conference is due to how much better players get throughout their Whitman careers. Malesovas is the perfect example of an already good tennis player who got better over the summer and took it upon himself to continue the winning tradition.

Senior Matt Tesmond explained that while other Division III schools may be recruiting players who are highly ranked coming out of high school, Whitman has prided itself on targeting players who fit the mold of the program and developing them throughout their Whitman career.

“A lot of the top teams we compete with are getting three- and four-star recruits, but our thing is that we work harder than everyone else,” said Tesmond. “We do more conditioning than anyone else. If we didn’t love being with each other, it would be awful. But we enjoy being together so much and playing for each other that it makes the work worth it.”

As storied as the Whitman men’s tennis program has become, Malesovas made it clear that his primary goal is not to go down as one of Whitman’s best; instead, he simply wants to continue on the great team tradition.

“We are all so close and so intertwined that I don’t consider myself an individual player on the team. If I had the choice of playing one and winning an individual national championship, or playing six and winning with my team, I would take playing six 100 times out of 100,” said Malesovas.