Fox Chapel graduate Robby Shymansky is off to a great start in his first season on the Yale men’s tennis team, and is expected to make a big impact when the Bulldogs kick off team matches in January.

Shymansky, a freshman, defeated players from Michigan State, Penn State and Buffalo in singles in the Farnsworth-Ivy Plus Tournament in September at Princeton.

He then competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Championship at Penn, where he defeated Monmouth before losing to Princeton in singles.

Yale coach Chris Drake said Shymansky is fit, tough and has a big weapon with his forehand. He expects him to make a big impact in the short and long run.

“Our goals for Robby are to continue working on his game, be a great teammate by practicing with effort and enthusiasm and to compete as hard as he can,” Drake said. “He is off to a great start (in) all of these areas and is earning the respect of the coaching staff and his teammates.”

Shymansky, a two-time WPIAL Class AAA singles champion who earned WPIAL and PIAA titles last season, said the biggest adjustment to college tennis is the physicality of every point.

“I can’t get away with a lot of things I could in juniors,” he said. “Every ball I hit has to be quality because college guys can attack me and put me on defense a lot more easily than kids could in the past.

“I have to look to play a lot more offense and be aggressive whenever I have the opportunity.”

Shymansky, who over the summer took first place in men’s open singles in the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit Wildcard Tournament in Mt. Lebanon, said he is familiar with his opponents.

“One thing about tennis is pretty much everybody knows each other from playing in juniors,” he said.

Shymansky, who plans to study pre-med, said his goal is to contribute to the team as much as he can.

“The Ivy League is one of the toughest conferences in college tennis,” he said. “Every team is solid, so there aren’t any easy wins.

“We have a lot of work to do if we want to get wins in this league, but we definitely feel like we’re making strides. It would be awesome if our team had the chance to compete at (the NCAA Division I championship).”

The Bulldogs, of New Haven, Conn., went 0-7 in the conference last season.

They open the season Jan. 25 at home in a nonconference match against Boston College.

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