Ithaca Earns Seventh Empire 8 Sweep, Downs Alfred 9-0
Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team played it home finale at the Wheeler Tennis Courts on Thursday afternoon when it welcomed Alfred University for the final Empire 8 regular season contest. The Bombers scored their seventh sweep of the conference season, blowing past the Saxons in a 9-0 win to improve their record to 11-5 on the year and 7-1 in Empire 8 play.
The Bombers followed a familiar blueprint in their latest triumph, blazing out to a fast start in doubles action to begin the match. IC conceded just seven total games in rolling out to a 3-0 lead in the match.
The third-flight pair of
Garrett Boleslav and
Brandon Buksbaum were clinical in dispatching Kyle Kemper and Jacob Nordin in an 8-2 victory.
Wes Davis and
Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos also picked up a quick victory, besting the Saxons' Kevin Volz and Patrick Brown in another 8-2 triumph. The two quick wins lifted IC to an early 2-0 advantage.
The closest doubles bout came in the middle flight, as
Stefan Lazarevic and
Max Prestwich faced off against Mike Wisniewski and Peter Smock in a slightly tighter battle. The Bombers' tandem scored a couple early breaks and rolled to an 8-3 win.
Boleslav got things started for IC in the singles portion of the competition. He scored his fourth singles win of the season with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Kyle Kemper in the fifth flight. The win put Ithaca within a point of clinching the match.
Senior
Charlie Vaca fittingly clinched the match for Ithaca in the sixth flight. He scored his second singles win of the year, besting Jacob Nordin 6-0, 6-3. It was his first clinching win of the year.
Senior
Brandon Buksbaum also likely concluded his Ithaca career with a great performance in the fourth flight. He scored a 6-0, 6-2 decision over Alfred's Brown, capping the second set with an ace on the decisive match point.
Sam McGrath had a dominant effort in his third-flight bout against the Saxons' Mike Wisniewski. He scored two breaks in running up a 6-1 win in the opening set. He shut out Wisniewski during the second set, cruising to the 6-0 win.
The closest two battles came in the top two flights, but the Bombers proved victorious in both. Prestwich scored a 6-0 whitewashing in the opening set against Alfred's Peter Smock, before holding off the Saxons' netter 6-4 in the second set. Davis scored his 49
th career singles win with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Alfred's Kevin Volz in the top flight to close out the 9-0 win.
Ithaca wraps the regular season on Sunday, April 30, with a 9:00 a.m. non-conference clash at Connecticut College.