Bazile's Strong Week Nets LEC Accolade

Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications

SALEM, Mass. -- 

On Monday April 17, Salem State Vikings men's tennis player Roni Bazile (Brockton, Mass) earned Little East Co-Player of the week.

This week, Salem State Athletics is featuring the veteran Bazile.

The graduate-student from Brockton is making a huge impact on this Vikings' team that has won seven straight matches, including the Little East regular season championhip after defeating Bridgewater State on Wednesday, April 20, in a 6 to 3 win. Bazile and his teammates went 3-0 the prior week as they defeated Thomas, Southern Maine and Castleton.

In singles play against Thomas, Bazile moved up to No. 1 singles and won two of the three sets after dropping the first set 6-3, before bouncing back for a 6-2 and 6-1 win. Against the Southern Maine Huskies, Bazile went on to a clean sweep 6-0 and 6-1 in singles and in doubles, he teamed up with his partner Cory Cherico (Winthrop, Mass.), taking home an 8-2 victory. Against the Castleton Spartans, Bazile swept No. 2 singles, 6-2 and 6-0 and in doubles, he and Cherico combined for an 8-0 shutout. 

Bazile, who started playing tennis while he was in second grade, is currently majoring in Athletic Training.

Bazile didn't even think about playing tennis, it was something that he really loved and enjoyed when he was a little kid and it was something that happened out of nowhere. "Honestly it wasn't something that I wanted to do," he said. "The coach showed up at one of our classes one day and asked who is interested in playing tennis. My friend at the time wanted to join and I said I'll do it too, I guess. It turns out that I was actually good at it, so I continued playing."

Now once he graduates, he will likely continue on with his passion that is  tennis. "After I graduate I do want to play tournaments for the United States Tennis Association (USTA). I am definitely going to be playing in a lot of tournaments once I am finished as Salem State." 

Bazile had a feeling that he was going to be named co-player of the week with the week that he had. "I honestly knew that it was coming," he said. "I had a pretty good week to be honest.  I played No. 1 single for the first time this week and I won my matches and by just performing this week I knew I was going to get it."

His teammates and his coaches constantly push Bazile. "I felt like in practices my teammates definitely pushed me a lot and my coaches also put me in situations where I am going to be successful…" he also added, "that he had a lot of support from them to win this achievement."

Bazile found out that he was named Co-Player of the Week because of his doubles partner Corey Cherico, who forwarded him a link through social media.

For Bazile this award means something. "It mean's a lot," he said. "It shows that all of my hard work it is paying off, like coming in to practice extra early. You have to put some work in, even on the days that we don't have practice. I still go out there and work on my skills, and to see it's finally paying off, it's a good thing to see." 

His personal goal for the rest of the season is to win the Little East championship. "We are in a good spot right now. We are winning the matches that we are supposed to win, and I feel we have a good shot at taking it all."

Bazile has a different routine before practices compared to before the games "Before games I like to regroup all of my rackets, making sure that my group is nice and fresh so it is not affecting me during matches. Honestly, I like warming up a lot. I am super tight. I like to come in extra early and get some reps before my team gets here. They can just come and play, but me I have to come out early and start getting ready."

Before a game Bazile likes to listen to a lot of music to not get distracted, he also meditates.

Bazile talked about his off-season preparation to be in shape for the season "A lot of cross fit, a lot of lifting. I take time to build muscle and endurance and work on some of the skills that I couldn't work on during the season. I like doing a lot of cross-fit, and a lot of running and agility work," he said.

He has a message for anyone that wants to play the game of tennis. "Do it, it's a fun sport," he said. "It is definitely different as I am more of an individual person, and I enjoy the mental aspects of tennis as well. It is a challenging sport, and I like the challenges, especially before matches to plan out what I want to do…" 

Next up for Bazile and the Vikings, is a non-conference match against Endicott this Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Central Campus, followed by Saturday's last regular season match of the season against UMass Boston. Bazile, who won a Little East championship as a freshman hopes to cap off his final season with another tournament victory on his home court.