Ithaca Rolls Past Houghton 9-0, Moves to 2-0 in Empire 8 Play
Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – As warmer weather and sunny skies pushed their way into the Finger Lakes Region on Wednesday afternoon, the Ithaca College men's tennis team made its outdoors debut at the Wheeler Tennis Courts when it welcomed Houghton College for an Empire 8 clash. The Bombers rolled past the Highlanders, scoring their second straight 9-0 sweep to begin Empire 8 play.
For the second straight match, the Bombers jumped out to a big early lead by sweeping all three doubles flights. The wins gave Ithaca a stranglehold on the match with a 3-0 lead heading into singles action.
Senior
Nate Wolf and sophomore
Sam McGrath got things started for IC with a convincing win in the second flight. The duo moved to 2-0 on the year, dropping just two games in an 8-2 pro-set win to get the Bombers on the board. The third-flight freshmen tandem of
Liam Spiegel and
Max Prestwich followed suit shortly thereafter, scoring their first victory as a grouping on the year with an 8-3 triumph.
The closest match of the doubles portion came in the top flight, as senior
Wes Davis and junior
Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos squared off against Houghton's Zach Shilvock and Jordan Crouch. Although IC's duo took a couple games to find their groove, Davis and Viguie-Ramos scored a couple breaks to pull away for an 8-4 decision.
It did not take long for Ithaca to secure the match once singles play got underway. The Bombers took all six singles bouts in straight sets.
Wolf was the first to finish in singles action, notching a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win over Houghton's Michael Cha in the third flight. The win pushed Wolf's record to 11-6 in singles this season, evening his 1-1 mark in the third flight. Davis sealed the game-winning point quickly after, scoring a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Crouch in the second flight to make the match score 5-0 in favor of the Bombers.
Senior
Brandon Buksbaum saw his first singles action of the season in the sixth flight, but showed no rust in a comfortable win. He bested the Highlanders' Holden Cole in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. The freshman Prestwich extended IC's lead in the fourth flight, winning 6-3, 6-1 against Houghton's Jake Fisler.
Freshman
Minos Stavrakas continued his excellent rookie campaign, making his Empire 8 debut in a top-flight match against Houghton's Shilvock. Stavrakas shutout his opponent in a dominant 6-0 opening set. The IC rookie gained the early upper hand in the second frame, before salting away his 14
th singles win of the season.
The closest battle of the afternoon came in the fifth flight, as Spiegel locked in a competitive match against Houghton's Bjorn Webb. Although IC's rookie had a fairly easy time in the opening set, pulling away for a 6-2 win, things got more difficult in the second set. Webb broke Spiegel's serve twice during the second frame to force a tiebreaker at 6-all. Spiegel buckled down in crunch time, winning the tiebreaker 7-2 to complete the IC sweep.