Ithaca Beats Nazareth; Elmira Cruises Past Oswego; Stevens Sweeps Utica but Falls to Middlebury
ITHACA v NAZARETH
The Ithaca College men's tennis team picked up an important Empire 8 victory Saturday at Glazer Arena in a 6-3 win over Nazareth. The Bombers moved into a second-place tie in the Empire 8 standings with the Golden Flyers as each possess 3-1 conference records.
The Bombers started strongly by sweeping the three doubles matches. The third doubles team of Derryk Williams and Kyle Riether started with an 8-0 win, followed by a second-doubles victory by Justin Levine and Griffin Reid by an 8-4 score. David Andersen and Chris Hayes won the first-doubles match 8-6. Ithaca clinched the victory with singles victories by Levine, Hayes and Kyle Van Delden.
The Bombers return to action Sunday at Alfred.
Nazareth vs Ithaca
04/20/13 at Ithaca, N.Y.
(Glazer Arena)
Ithaca 6, Nazareth 3
Singles competition
1. Ryan McCormick (NAZ) def. Griffin REID (IC) 6-1, 6-2
2. Justin LEVINE (IC) def. Jeremy Mancus (NAZ) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Chris HAYES (IC) def. Bret Beaver (NAZ) 6-1, 6-2
4. Erik Manske (NAZ) def. David ANDERSEN (IC) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
5. Tyler Williams (NAZ) def. Joseph HANF (IC) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-5
6. Kyle VAN DELDEN (IC) def. Nick Lord (NAZ) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. David ANDERSEN/Chris HAYES (IC) def. Ryan McCormick/Tyler Williams (NAZ) 8-6
2. Justin LEVINE/Griffin REID (IC) def. Jeremy Mancus/Erik Manske (NAZ) 8-4
3. Kyle RIETHER/Derryk WILLIAMS (IC) def. Bret Beaver/Scott Trobert (NAZ) 8-0
ELMIRA v OSWEGO
The EC Men's Tennis team cruised through for another, 8-1, victory over the Oswego State University Lakers Saturday afternoon at the Murray Athletic Center. The Soaring Eagles improve to 5-4 this season, while the Lakers fall to 3-8.
In the beginning the Lakers came out ready, but the Soaring Eagles did not worry. Strolling through their match, 8-1, at the second doubles spot were veterans
Gorav Simlote'13 and
Steffan Waters '13. Keith Bujak '15 and
Sam Pine '14 at the first spot were down 3-0 early, but got it together and shifted the momentum to eventually close it out 8-4. At the third spot were
Satchal Waters '16 and
Austin Mansell '16 who also struggled at first, but stayed calm eventually coming away with the 8-3 win.
In singles action EC continued to dominate taking five out of six singles matches. Oswego State was able to get through at the sixth spot to earn its lone point.
Mansell, Pine, Satchal Waters '16 and
Scott Ferron '16 each played well staying focused throughout their matches pulling out straight set victories.
Bujak had a tough day moving up to the first singles spot, but was able to fight through to earn a three set tiebreaker victory 4-6, 7-5, 10-2.
STEVENS v MIDDLEBURY/UTICA
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team split a pair of matches at No. 9 Middlebury College (L, 7-2) and Empire 8 Conference foe Utica College (W, 9-0) on Saturday.
Middlebury 7, Stevens 2
The Ducks started the day bright and early with a 9 a.m. match in Vermont against the No. 9 team in the nation in Middlebury. The Ducks picked up points at second doubles and first singles in a match that was much closer than the final score indicated, with Stevens competing in both doubles losses (8-4) and taking three singles matches into a third set, although the Panthers did rest some regular ahead of an afternoon match vs. No. 5 Williams College.
Middlebury improves to 15-1 on the season while Stevens drops to 9-7, with all seven losses coming to nationally ranked programs.
The Ducks' first doubles pairing of freshman
Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and senior
Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.), the No. 3-ranked duo in the Northeast region, quickly found themselves down a break, but the second doubles team of freshman
Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and senior
Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) went up by a pair of breaks while freshman
Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) and junior
Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) also fell behind by a break at threes.
Tasaki and Foran quickly locked up the victory at twos, 8-6, but Middlebury matched with the 8-4 win at third doubles. The Panthers then broke serve again at first singles and took the match, 8-4, to go up 2-1 heading into singles play.
With four indoor courts available, first-through-fourth singles trotted out to get things back underway. Heinrich and Rosensteel quickly fell behind by a break at first and second singles, respectively, while Tasaki and Foran each went up a break at third and fourth singles before Foran was brought back on serve and beaten out for the first set. Rosensteel would fall first, losing 6-0, 6-3 at #2 as the Panthers took the 3-1 match lead, while Foran was brought back on serve before dropping his first set. Tasaki, meanwhile, fell behind by a break but came back to force and win the tiebreaker to take the first set at third singles, and Heinrich, down a set and 4-1 in the second, rallied to go up a break and took the set, 6-4.
Tasaki fell behind by a break early and dropped the second set at third singles, 6-2, while Foran kept on serve through the first eight games and finally got a break to take the second set, 6-4. Heinrich immediately went up a break in the third set at #1 while Foran stayed on serve early, but Tisdale was quickly swept, 6-0, 6-0 at fifth singles. Foran then had his serve broken at 3-4 and went on to lose the set (6-3) and match, giving Middlebury the clinching fifth victory.
With the match decided, the Panthers rolled on to victory as Tsaki gave in, 6-3, in the third set and Smith was beaten at sixth singles to give Middlebury the 8-1 victory. Heinrich was credited with a victory as his opponent at #1 retired with the third set still knotted at 4-4, making the final score 7-2.
Stevens 9, Utica 0
The Ducks wasted no time once they stepped of the bus in Utica, quickly sweeping the doubles and taking all six eight-game pro sets in just over an hour.
Stevens picks up its 10th win of the spring and is now 10-7 overall with a perfect 5-0 ledger in Empire 8 play, while Utica drops to 3-4 (0-4).
Rosensteel and Heinrich quickly dispatched their opponents at first doubles, 8-1, while Tasaki and senior
Brian Liebeskind (Basking Ridge, N.J.) swept third doubles, 8-0. Tisdale and Smith faced a bit more opposition at twos, but still pulled out a comfortable 8-3 win.
The Ducks swept first-through-fourth singles by identicl 8-0 scores, with Heinrich, Rosensteel, Tasaki and Tisdale picking up the respective victories. Sophomores
Daniel Szwarc (Metuchen, N.J.) and
Spencer Lin (Princeton, N.J.) saw their first action of the spring and both won at fifth (8-1) and sixth (8-2) singles, respectively.
Head Coach
Steve Gachko and the Ducks will take on Hartwick College (0-6) tomorrow, Sunday, April 21 at 12 p.m. before hosting their final match against a ranked opponent this regular season in undefeated The College of New Jersey (13-0) on Wednesday, April 24 at 3 p.m.