Elmira Blanks Utica in Empire 8 Action, 9-0
Score: Elmira College 9 – Utica College 0
Records: Elmira (7-5, 2-2 E8), Utica (1-5, 0-4 E8)
Location: Utica Tennis Courts – Utica, N.Y.
UTICA, N.Y. -- Elmira College men's tennis leveled its record within the Empire 8 Conference with a one-sided 9-0 victory on the road against Utica College this afternoon. The Soaring Eagles improved to 7-5 overall on the season and 2-2 in league play.
Elmira began today's conference tilt with a pair of 8-0 wins by
Theo Tran '20 and
Patrick Tracey '18 at first doubles and
Anthony Colavito '20 and
Yaniv Kogan '18 at third doubles. EC's second doubles tandem of
Chris Konow '18 and
Stephen Gervase '20 had to work a bit harder for their win, as the two former high school teammates edged the Pioneers by a single break of serve, 8-6, to give the Purple and Gold a 3-0 lead heading into singles play.
In single action, Tracey was the first Soaring Eagle to finish his match, as the third-year talent throttled his counterpart from Utica at the third spot, 6-0, 6-0. It marked the fourth consecutive singles victory for the Bardonia, New York, native, as well as his eighth in the team's last nine matches. Along with his 8-0 win at first doubles, Tracey was the only player to win in all 20 games he played in this afternoon.
Tracey's doubles partner, Tran, clinched today's victory for the Soaring Eagles with a no-nonsense 6-2, 6-0 win at the top singles position. The rookie netter is 4-1 in his last five singles matches, however this afternoon's win was his first against a conference opponent.
Jordan Curtis '19 made it a 6-0 Elmira lead as he topped his opponent at the No. 6 position by scores of 6-1, 6-4. The sophomore is now 5-2 in his last seven singles contests and 2-2 within conference play.
The day's most competitive singles match took place on court two this evening, as Elmira's Colavito took down Utica's Garrett Naoke at the No. 2 spot. Colavito eked out a tightly contested opening set by a single break, 6-4, before breaking Naoke twice in the second set for a 6-4, 6-2 win. The win for Colavito snapped a four-match singles losing streak, two of which went the distance to a third set.
The final two matches of this evening's contest featured Elmira's Konow and Kogan at the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Konow conceded four games en route to a 6-2, 6-2 win, while Kogan dropped just three games for a 6-1, 6-2 victory. The win for Konow ended a two-match singles skid and also went down as his first E8 win of the year. Kogan, on the other hand, improved to 6-3 in his last nine singles matches.
In His Own Words…
Head Coach
Tom Linhart on Elmira's play this afternoon…
"I was happy with the way the guys came out today and just took care of business. We started off strong in doubles and carried that over into the singles matches, which was nice to see."
Coach Linhart on EC leveling its conference record…
"Any time you can get a conference win, you'll take it. The rest of the season and the E8 tournament field are going to be played out over the next two weeks, so getting a win today will hopefully pay off down the stretch when we make that postseason push."
Scores
Singles
1.
Theo Tran (ELMIRA) def. Christopher Dunn (UTICA) 6-2, 6-0
2.
Anthony Colavito (ELMIRA) def. Garrett Noake (UTICA) 6-4, 6-2
3.
Patrick Tracey (ELMIRA) def. Paul Litvak (UTICA) 6-0, 6-0
4.
Chris Konow (ELMIRA) def. Luc Boby (UTICA) 6-2, 6-2
5.
Yaniv Kogan (ELMIRA) def. Alex Roberts (UTICA) 6-1, 6-2
6.
Jordan Curtis (ELMIRA) def. Patrick Restuccio (UTICA) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
1. Tran/Tracey (ELMIRA) def. Dunn/Litvak (UTICA) 8-0
2. Gervase/Konow (ELMIRA) def. Noake/Boby (UTICA) 8-6
3. Kogan/Colavito (ELMIRA) def. Whitehurst/Diller (UTICA) 8-0
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2) Singles (3,1,6,2,4,5)