Ithaca Bests St. John Fisher 5-1 in Empire 8 Semifinals
Box Score (PDF)
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team secured its place in the Empire 8 Championship on Friday afternoon when it downed St. John Fisher 5-1 in an Empire 8 Semifinal match at the Mendon Racquet Club in Pittsford, N.Y. The Bombers are set to meet Stevens in the Empire 8 Championship tomorrow morning, the 10
th straight time they have met the Ducks in the conference tournament final dating back to 2008.
The Bombers jumped out to an early advantage during the doubles portion of the match. Senior
Wes Davis and junior
Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos defeated Fisher's Dustin McCullough and Jocob Zarzycki 8-3 in second doubles to open the scoring for IC. Sophomore
Stefan Lazarevic and senior
Nate Wolf quickly doubled Ithaca's lead with an 8-4 victory over Jonathan Harper and Adam Moran in the third flight.
The Cardinals scored their first point off of Ithaca this season in the top flight on Friday to ensure the Bombers would not take a dominant 3-0 lead into singles action. The Cardinals' Kevin Kulawiec and Quinn Magiera were able to score a crucial break in defeating IC's top tandem of freshman
Minos Stavrakas and sophomore
Michael Gardiner in the top flight.
Although IC's top tandem was unable to pull out the victory as a pair, the Bombers' top two players were able to help secure the victory for Ithaca during the singles portion of the match. IC won each of the Top-3 flights to lock up the 5-1 victory.
Freshman
Colten Lavery got things started for Ithaca in the singles portion of the competition. He coasted to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over John Miller in the third flight to improve Ithaca's lead to 3-1 for the match.
Stavrakas got revenge on Kulawiec in the top-flight match. He scored a pair of breaks to pull away for a 6-2 win in the opening set. He easily took home the victory with a 6-3 triumph in the second set. The singles win was his 18
th of the season.
Gardiner locked things up for IC with a three-set thriller in the second flight. He scored a critical late break to get an early lead over Fisher's Magiera in the opening set, taking the lead with a 7-5 win. Magiera responded with a dominant 6-1 win to level the match at a set apiece. Looking to seal the match, Gardiner scored a pair of crucial breaks to clinch the match with a 6-3 win in the decisive third set.
Ithaca returns to action tomorrow morning when it does battle with top-seeded Stevens. Start time is scheduled for 10 a.m.