HOBOKEN, N.J. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team traveled to Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday morning for a battle of Empire 8 unbeaten teams. Unfortunately, it was the Ducks that gained the upper-hand in the race for the top seed at next month's Empire 8 Tournament. Ithaca fell to the perennial powerhouse in an 8-1 decision.
 
Beginning the season with five straight 9-0 sweeps at the start of Empire 8 play, Ithaca knew the challenge would be ramped up several notches against a Ducks squad that is a perennial NCAA Tournament qualifier. IC conceded its first team points of the year in conference action, taking just one doubles tilt in the match.
 
The match began with a spirited doubles session, which was quite close throughout. While the Ducks took victories in the bottom two flights, IC's top tandem of freshman Minos Stavrakas and sophomore Michael Gardiner defeated Kyle Henry and Antonio Perich 8-6. The Bombers trailed 2-1 heading into singles play.
 
Several singles bouts were close, but Stevens took all six of the flights in straight sets. Stavrakas nearly forced a decisive third set in the top flight, but Polk was able to pull out the second set 7-6, winning 7-3 in the tiebreaker.
 
The second and fourth flights also took extra games to decide. Senior Wes Davis nearly won the opening set in his second-flight battle against Stevens' Henry, but the Ducks' netter was able to score a break on Davis to win the set 7-5. He pulled away for a 6-2 win in the second frame. Freshman Colten Lavery nearly forced a third set in his fourth-flight matchup against the Ducks' Charles Drake. In the same scenario as Davis, Lavery also was broken to fall 7-5, this time in the second set.
 
Gardiner fell 4-6, 4-6 to Stevens' Personn in the third flight. Freshman Max Prestwich lost to Michael Feldman in a 2-6, 6-7 (4-7) decision in the fifth flight. Freshman Sam McGrath lost to the Ducks' Dave Schulz 1-6, 4-6 in the sixth flight.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Tuesday, April 25, when it travels to Utica College for an Empire 8 battle against the Pioneers. Start time for the match is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.