Box Score (PDF)
ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team made it five straight 9-0 sweeps to begin Empire 8 Conference play on Tuesday afternoon when it hit the road to face Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. The Bombers controlled matters from start to finish, continuing to build on its best Empire 8 start in program history. The victory sets up a key clash against Stevens on Saturday with the winner gaining the leg up in the race for the number-one seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Tournament.
Ithaca jumped on the Hawks early scoring three comfortable wins in the doubles portion of the competition. Playing for the first time in tandems this season, senior
Brandon Buksbaum and freshman Garrett Boleslav scored the team's first point in an 8-0 whitewashing of Drew Tyrol and Quinn McQuade.
The top-flight duo of freshman
Minos Stavrakas and sophomore
Michael Gardiner doubled the lead with an 8-3 triumph over John Talbot and Krishna Patel. The senior tandem of
Wes Davis and
Nate Wolf ensured IC took a big 3-0 lead into singles with an 8-4 victory over Nick Adamou and Ross Braue in the second flight.
The singles portion of the competition was highlighted by five straight sets sweeps for the Bombers in the second-through-sixth flights. The lone match in which IC conceded games was the first flight; however, that match also ended in straight sets.
Boleslave got things started for IC with a 6-0, 6-0 triumph over McQuade in the sixth flight. Buksbaum clinched the match moments later in the fifth with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Drew Tyrol.
Wolf scored IC's sixth team point with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Braue in the fourth flight, while Davis best Nick Adamou 6-0, 6-0 in the third flight. Gardiner completed Ithaca's dominant run with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Krishna Patel in the second flight.
Stavrakas faced the toughest challenge of the afternoon, facing John Talbot in the top-flight matchup. The IC freshman scored a 6-2 victory in the first set, before cruising to the 6-1 win in second set to cap the sweep.
Ithaca returns to action on Saturday, April 22, when it heads to Hoboken, N.J., for a battle of E8 unbeaten teams. The match is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m.
