Alfred, Elmira, Ithaca and Stevens Earn Wins
ALFRED v UTICA
The Alfred University men’s tennis team concluded its 2013 season with a 7-2 Empire 8 Conference win over hostUticaFriday afternoon.
Alfred swept three doubles match and won the first four singles matches to finish the year with a 2-5 Empire 8 mark and an overall record of 5-10.
Freshman Connor Doud (Ballston Spa,NY/Ballston Spa) won first singles, 6-4, 6-3; junior Peter Benoit (Gasport,NY/Barker) took second singles, 6-0. 6-3; freshman Dan Baruch (East Meadow, NY/East Meadow) won third singles, 6-4, 6-1; and sophomore Michael Graham (Elmira, NY/Southside) won fourth singles, 6-3, 6-1.
In doubles play, Doud and Benoit won first doubles, 8-5; Graham and senior Trenton Berardi (Warren, PA/Warren) won second doubles, 8-6; and Baruch and freshman Matt Baloga (Goshen, NY/Goshen) won third doubles, 9-7.
ELMIRA v HARTWICK
The EC Men’s Tennis team downed conference opponent Hartwick College, 7-2, on Saturday afternoon at the Murray Athletic Center. This is one of the last matches that the Soaring Eagles will play at home this season and the senior class of 2013 went out with a bang. The Soaring Eagles improve to 6-6 overall and 3-4 in the Empire 8, while the Hawks fall to 0-9 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
The Soaring Eagles started off strong by taking all three doubles points. Third doubles was the first to finish as
Satchal Waters ’16 and
Austin Mansell ’16 made quick work of their opponents winning 8-1. At the second spot,
Steffan Waters ’13 and
Steve Carlette ’16, the EC duo dominated the match winning easily 8-3. The first doubles spot was a tight one as
Sam Pine ’14 and
Keith Bujak ’15 were forced to go to a tiebreaker for the second straight doubles match. However, the duo controlled the tempo in the breaker to edge the Hawks 9-8 (7-3).
In singles, Elmira continued its success by controlling the points to take four out of the six matches. Clinching the match for EC was
Carlette who took down his opponent 6-3, 6-1. Finishing right in front of
Carlette was
Bujak who made quick work of his opponent dropping only one game.
Satchel Waters ’16 and
Mansell each dominated their matches at the fifth and sixth spots dropping a total of four games.
The EC Men’s Tennis team will return home next Tuesday for its final match of the 2013 season against the Keuka College Storm at 4:00 p.m.
ITHACA v ST. JOHN FISHER
The Ithaca College men's tennis team defeated St. John Fisher 7-2 on Saturday afternoon at the Wheeler Tennis Courts. The Bombers swept the doubles matches and won four of six singles matches. With the win, Ithaca improved to 6-11 overall and 5-1 in the Empire 8. The Bombers have clilnched the second seed in the Empire 8 Tournament next weekend at Hoboken, N.J. and they will face Nazareth in the semifinals. Ithaca will wrap its regular season Tuesday at Hartwick.
Senior
Kyle Riether (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) was honored prior to the start of his final home match, and went on to team with
Derryk Williams (Lansdale, Pa./Methacton) for an 8-4 win at third doubles. The first doubles team of
David Andersen (Hastings on Hudson/Hastings) and
Chris Hayes (Rochester/Brighton) won 8-5, and
Justin Levine (Highland Mills/Monroe Woodbury) and
Griffin Reid (Bolton, Conn./Bolton) wn 8-4 at second doubles. Reid, Hayes, Andersen and
Joseph Hanf (Visalia, Calif./Redwood) won in singles play, all in straight sets.
STEVENS v NAZARETH
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team closed out its regular season with an 8-1 victory over Empire 8 Conference foe Nazareth College on Saturday afternoon to finish a perfect 7-0 in conference play for the third straight year.
Stevens improves to 13-7 overall, with all seven losses having come to nationally ranked opponents, and a perfect 7-0 in Empire 8 play for the third straight season. Nazareth drops to 6-11 (5-2).
The Ducks swept doubles comfortably, with freshman
Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and senior
Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.) taking first doubles, 8-0, with freshman
Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) and junior
Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) did the same at third doubles. Senior
Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) and freshman
Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) completed the sweep with an 8-3 win at second doubles, giving Stevens the 3-0 lead heading into singles play.
Stevens carried the momentum into singles, with the Ducks taking courts one-through-five in straight sets. Tasaki swept his match at third singles, 6-0, 6-0, while Heinrich and Rosensteel cruised to victories at first (6-3, 6-0) and second (6-1, 6-4) singles, respectively. Foran won at #4, 6-3, 6-1, and Tisdale picked up the point at fifth singles, 6-2, 6-4. The Ducks' only loss came at sixth singles, where Smith dropped a tight battle that went to a third-set tiebreaker, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8.
Head Coach
Steve Gachko and the Ducks will host the Empire 8 Championship next weekend, with semifinals matches taking place on Saturday, May 4 and the finals contested on Sunday, May 5. No. 1 seed Stevens will face No. 4 St. John Fisher College at 10 a.m., followed by No. 2 Nazareth versus No. 3 Ithaca College at 2 p.m. (in the event of inclement weather, both matches will take place simultaneously at 9:30 a.m. at the Centercourt of Morristown.