The men’s tennis program at Ithaca dates back to 1947, when Herb Broadwell began a six-year string coaching the Bombers. Four years after the program’s inception, Ithaca posted an 8-2 record – the 1951 season would stand as the Bombers’ most successful for 17 years.
Brief stretches by head coaches Karl Brittell, Art Zodikoff, Ron Bos and Vincent Messina carried the Bombers through the 1950s and early ‘60s. Ithaca posted a 7-1 record – winning seven straight to close out the season – in 1962.
A year later Alan Esty took over as Bomber coach and guided the team to three straight winning records, including a 9-1 campaign in 1968 that stood as the team’s winningest season until 1996. The 1966 season featured Glen Sexton’s 9-0 singles mark and 13-1 overall record. In 1968 Bud Eisenberg set a school record with 15 overall wins. His 39 career wins stood as the Bomber record for 10 years.
In 1970 Tim Faulkner’s 29-year career as Bomber coach began. That year both Doug Cash and Ray Holmes compiled 11-2 records. Early in Faulkner’s career the Bombers began competition in the Independent Athletic Conference (forerunner of the Empire 8), winning titles their first two tries, in 1973 and 1974. Between 1974 and 1981 the team posted a record of 53-15, won six conference crowns and posted one runner-up finish. The 1977 ICAC champions were led by Simon Aldrich (8-1). Another standout from the late ‘70s, Tom Lowell, set school records for career singles wins (32), doubles wins (28) and overall wins (60).
Throughout the 1980s the Bombers continued to be one of the conference’s strongest teams. Ithaca won the 1989 ICAC championship and finished second or third on five other occasions. The 1988 and 1989 teams both recorded eight victories, a feat matched by the 1991 team. The team’s top players from that era included Rufus Choate (46-23), Pete Bradshaw (41 wins), Robert Fisher (39 wins) and Steve Kurlander (56-24).
Mike Axelrod reached the ICAC singles semifinals as a freshman, won the league title as a sophomore and was part of two runner-up doubles pairings. Axelrod’s stellar four years saw him compile school-record totals of 34 singles wins and 62 overall triumphs. In 1993, the team of Cary Gruber and Kyle Schermerhorn won the conference’s “A” flight doubles title. Gruber’s 11 singles wins that season set a school record. Schermerhorn went on to tie Axelrod’s career singles record and break the school’s record for career doubles wins, finishing with a combined total of 66 wins (another Bomber record). Gruber, 59-24 in his career, currently ranks among the program’s top 12.
In 1996, the Bombers won a school-record 11 matches and repeated that feat the following year. The 1996 fall season also marked the first year of a full fall schedule for the program and the career record books reflect the additional opportunities for competition the Bombers have enjoyed since then. Jean-Jamil Rojer and Matt Schultz – who went on to become the school’s two winningest players – were freshmen on the 1997 team. Rojer became the first Bomber to reach 100 career wins, despite only competing during the fall as a senior (he graduated in December) and finished 101-32. As a junior, he reached the semifinals of the ITA Northeast Regionals. Schultz, 113-32 in his career, set single-season records with 16 singles wins and 26 overall victories in 1997.
Ryan Witt took over as the Bombers’ coach in 1999; a year later the Bombers won 10 matches and took second at the Empire 8 championships (in the first championship event the conference had held in five years).
When Witt left to become the head coach at Pomona-Pitzer, Bill Austin assumed Ithaca’s coaching reins. Austin, a former Bomber assistant coach (he helped the 1996 team set a school record with 11 wins), guided the team to two more runner-up finishes at the Empire 8 Tournament before the 2003 team broke through in dominant fashion. Ithaca won its three matches at the conference championships by a combined score of 20-1 and swept the Empire 8’s postseason awards behind Player of the Year Scott Rubens, Rookie of the Year Chris Ciolino, and Austin’s recognition as Coach of the Year. Ithaca won a school-record 15 matches that season.
Rubens finished his career with a school-record 61 singles wins and 103 overall victories; he and classmate Michael Medvin (106-62) joined Rojer and Schultz as the only Bombers to win 100 career matches.
The Bombers defended their title the following spring and reached the final again in 2005; Blair Watkins (whose career totals of 44 singles wins, 94 overall wins and 50 doubles wins rank fifth, fifth and third, respectively on Ithaca’s all-time list), was one of the 2004 team’s mainstays.
Ithaca captured its third conference title in five years in 2006 behind Empire 8 Player of the Year Chris Ciolino, who ranks second on the program’s overall wins list, third in doubles victories and fourth in singles wins. Austin was named the Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
In 2007, the Bombers captured their third straight Empire 8 title - a title which for the first time carried an automatic birth into the NCAA Tournament. In Ithaca's first-ever NCAA Tournament match, the Bombers jumped out to a 4-0 lead before falling 5-4 to Southern Maine.
Taylor Borda and Josh Rifkin became the first Ithaca men's tennis players to earn All-America recognition in the 2009-10 season. The duo won the ITA Northeast Regional doubles title and advanced to the ITA Small College Championships, where they placed third in the nation. The tandem also earned at-large selection into the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships in the spring of 2010, the first Ithaca players to achieve that honor.
The Ithaca men continued to occupy position near the top of the conference during Austin’s second decade at the helm of the program. The Bombers have finished as the Empire 8 regular-season and post-season runner-up six consecutive seasons dating back to 2010-11.
The program completed one of the most successful seasons in program history in 2015-16. The Bombers amassed a 13-6 overall record with the 13 victories ranking fourth-most for a single season and the 12th time during Austin’s tenure that the team posted double-digit wins.
In the 2016-17, which was Ithaca's last in the Empire 8, IC went 13-6 overall and 7-1 in the league play. The Bombers would conclude their season with a loss to Stevens in the E8 championship match. In the inaugural season within the Liberty League, IC posted a 6-10, followed by a 6-13 campaign in '18-19.
In 2019-20, IC had its season cut short due after just six matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season would happen to be the final year for long-time head coach Bill Austin, who retired in the summer. Chris Hayes '16 was appointed the next head coach shortly after that, but his first season at the helm would be delayed because of the continued pandemic.
After the ongoing pandemic canceled their fall season, IC returned to the court in the spring of 2021. Hayes would lead the Bombers to a 4-4 record on a shortened schedule, defeating conference opponents St. Lawrence and RIT.
The 2021-22 season saw the men's program just miss out on qualifying for the postseason on the final day of the regular season after a narrow 6-3 loss. The Bombers totaled an 8-10 record and individually, Nicholas Luis captured Liberty League Honorable Mention distinction for his singles performances across the season where he produced a 10-7 record. In the following season, Ithaca posted a 6-10 overall record.
Prior to the start of the 2023-24 season, Tom Rishcoff became the fifth coach in program history and he ended up leading the Bombers to their first postseason berth since the 2018-19 season. Ithaca finished sixth to qualify for the Liberty League tournament where they dropped a 5-0 decision to Vassar College. For the third-straight season, Nicolas Luis was tabbed as an All-Liberty League selection as he landed on the First Team for the first-time in his collegiate career. He was joined by Gijs Fidler who collected Second Team honors after an impressive debut season on campus where he stepped into the No. 2 slot in singles play and posted a 10-6 overall record including a 5-2 record during Liberty League action.
7/9/2024
