Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team was back in action for just the second time on home courts at Glazer Arena on Tuesday evening when it welcomed RIT for a pivotal Liberty League matchup. The Bombers entered the day sitting in strong position in the Liberty League with a 3-2 record and the tiebreaker over Vassar, while RIT hoped to start its stretch run with a critical win after a 0-3 start. It was Ithaca that brought the firepower on this day, turning in one of its best efforts of the season to down the Tigers in an 8-1 final.
 
With the victory, the Bombers improved to 4-2 in Liberty League action, essentially cementing their berth in the Liberty League Tournament during the first weekend of May. A win in either of Ithaca's final two Liberty League matches against No. 28 RPI or Bard will officially punch the team's ticket to the postseason, as would any other Bard loss. Tuesday's win over the Tigers pushed the Bombers into fourth-place in the League standings at 4-2, while IC still is contention for a potential bye, sitting just one match back in the loss column to current second-place squad RPI with a head-to-head match with the Engineers coming up this coming Sunday.
 
For just the fourth time this spring, the Bombers were able to gain the upper hand early to take a lead out of the doubles session. IC scored victories at first-doubles and third-doubles to grab early momentum in the match, which set the tone for IC's excellent evening.
 
The action started early at first-doubles, as the sophomore grouping of Minos Stavrakas and Colten Lavery remained red-hot with a dominant win, the group's fourth win in Liberty League action. The duo had their way throughout the matchup against RIT's top grouping of Jared Ingoglia and Patrick Mathews, pushing the Tigers all over the court in an 8-2 runaway decision. Unfortunately, the lead was relatively short-lived, as the Tigers were able to strike back with a win at second-doubles. It looked as though IC's second tandem of junior Sam McGrath and senior Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos might have had a comeback bid in them. Trailing in the pro set, IC's duo scored a big break and then Viguie-Ramos quickly dispatched the Tigers on his serve to pull back into the match. Sadly, the momentum stalled and RIT's Ben Lynaugh and Nick Lim were able to hold serve and break McGrath's serve to take the decision 8-6.
 
The crucial swing point came down to the third-doubles matchup between IC's junior Garrett Boleslav and sophomore Liam Spiegel against the Tigers third-tandem of Roger Peckham and Spencer Lowitt. Ithaca's duo held a lead throughout the majority of the bout, but almost let things slip away late. Twice the Bombers gave away games late allowing RIT to force a tiebreak. Boleslav scored a big service ace, while both Boleslav and Spiegel were able to poach winners at the net that split RIT to jump out to a 5-1 advantage in the tiebreak. Again, the Tigers would not go away, as three straight visitor points closed the deficit to just 6-5. Finally, Boleslav was able to secure the critical team point for the Bombers with a backhand slice winner just inside the left sideline to take the tiebreaker 7-5.
 
Ithaca's thrilling nail-biter triumph to conclude doubles clearly buoyed the team once singles play began. In the blink of an eye, the Bombers were up a set in each of the Top-4 flights. Stavrakas was the first to finish things off, remaining a perfect 6-0 in Liberty League singles action on the year with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Ingoglia in the first-singles matchup. Lavery was equally dominant in the third-singles matchup against Lowitt. He raced out to a 6-1 win in the first set and then sealed the match in an excellent display of tennis, winning an extremely long rally on match-point to take the second frame 6-3. The two wins pushed RIT to the brink with IC leading the team score 4-1.
 
Sophomore Max Prestwich ultimately sealed the match in the fourth-singles matchup against Mac Yang Li. He was able to score a big break to gain a lead in the first set en route to a 6-4 win in the first set. He kept the pressure on in the second frame, racing out to a 5-1 advantage before ultimately sealing things on serve to win 6-3.
 
McGrath continued the good vibes for IC to extend the lead to 6-1 in the second-singles matchup against Lynaugh. Like Prestwich, McGrath was able to squeeze out a win in a close first set 6-4. He continued to lead throughout the second frame, as Lynaugh battled through an injury in attempt to force a third set. With McGrath leading 5-4, Lynaugh ultimately elected he could no longer continue and was forced to retire, giving McGrath his 10^th singles triumph of the season.
 
The Bombers put the exclamation point on the match at fifth-singles and sixth-singles. Sophomore Sam Fried turned in a dominant effort to improve to 2-2 in Liberty League singles play and 4-5 overall. He bested RIT's Michael Peters 6-2, 6-1. Viguie-Ramos capped the evening with a clinical effort, winning 6-1, 6-3 against the Tigers' Nick Lim. The triumph improved the IC senior's mark to 4-0 in Liberty League singles action his season.
 
Ithaca is back in Liberty League action this weekend when it heads to Troy, N.Y., to face No. 28 RPI on Sunday, April 15. Start time for the match is 1:00 p.m.