Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team kicked off a busy three-match home stretch for the final week of the regular season on Tuesday afternoon when it welcomed NESCAC foe Hamilton to the Wheeler Tennis Complex. Trailing 4-1 in the match, the Bombers completed a thrilling comeback to down the Continentals 5-4 for their second consecutive win. Ithaca improves to 6-8 on the year.
 
The final hour of the match was filled with highlight after highlight, as IC showcased its steadfast resolve in a thrilling comeback. Ithaca scored wins in four straight matches to close out the match, evaporating a 4-1 deficit to earn the 5-4 victory.
 
Ithaca dug an early hole during the doubles portion, as Hamilton got off to a 1-0 lead with a comfortable win in the third-doubles pairing. Matt May and Eamon Gibbons made things difficult for IC's grouping of junior Garrett Boleslav and sophomore Liam Spiegel. Although IC's grouping was able to pull out a pair of games, Hamilton's duo took the matchup 8-2.
 
Ithaca battled back to even the match with an equally impressive victory in the second-doubles bout. Junior Sam McGrath and senior Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos took control early and rolled to an 8-3 triumph over Max Zimmerman and Tim Derby. The win was the duo's third as pairing this season.
 
The Bombers looked poised to potentially take a lead out of the doubles session with a win in the first-doubles battle. The sophomore tandem of Minos Stavrakas and Colten Lavery scored a big break and then held serve to go up 5-4 in their matchup against Sam Farber and Rob Dotterer. Unfortunately, the tandem was unable to maintain the momentum, as Hamilton's grouping picked up two breaks in a 4-0 run to close out a momentum changing 8-5 win.
 
Unfortunately, the bad luck continued for IC early in singles, as Hamilton pulled out to a 3-1 lead just minutes into the session. Sophomore netter Max Prestwich took a bad step chasing down a lob shot in just the second game of his fourth-singles bout against Tim Derby. He tried to give it a go, but on the next point he took fall as he closed to net and was forced to retire with the injury.
 
Hamilton pushed IC to the brink with another victory in the third-singles match between Lavery and the Continentals' Max Zimmerman. IC's sophomore struggled to keep balls in play during the opening set, but showed excellent fight in battling back into the match in the second set. Unfortunately, it was not enough as a break proved the difference in the second frame en route to a 6-1, 6-4 win for Zimmerman.
 
IC began to mount its comeback charge in the fifth-flight matchup between sophomore Sam Fried against Hamilton's Eyad Nagroni. Fried picked up a big break in his opening set and made it stand up in a 6-4 win. He pulled away in the second set to win 6-2. The victory evened his season record at 6-6 on the year.
 
The Bombers continued the comeback charge at first-singles with Stavrakas continuing to turn in stellar results against a challenging foe in Hamilton's Sam Farber. Stavrakas dominated his opening set 6-1 and raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second frame; however, Farber did not go down without a fight. Farber broke serve twice to pull ahead in the frame, but Stavrakas pushed back to force a tiebreak at six-all. The tiebreaker was extremely close, but Stavrakas showcased his sublime quality to edge ahead for the win. Leading 5-4, he won an extended rally with a fantastic shot just inside the left line. He closed things out with a nice cross-court forehand winner as he closed the net.
 
Needing results in the final two games, things did not look quite so good for the Bombers. Viguie-Ramos came up on the short end of a close 5-7 tiebreaker in the opening set, while McGrath dropped his second frame 5-7 after taking the opening set by a 6-1 margin. Once again the never-say-die Bombers showed their fight.
 
Viguie-Ramos staved off a pair of match points to battle back and force a tiebreak in the second set. Trailing 5-4 in the decisive breaker, he rattled off a few big winners, eventually pulling level in the match with a thunderous overhand volley to take the breaker 9-7. That momentum seemed to pump the wind back into IC's sails for the stretch run.
 
McGrath regained his mojo in the third set, scoring a big break and then holding serve to go up 5-2. He would ultimately take the decisive third set by a 6-3 score. The win set the stage for some intense drama back on Court Six with Viguie-Ramos again refusing to go away.
 
IC's lone senior battled for every second, again staving off several match points, which included a 40-love rally at one point in the third frame. He went on to go up 6-5, before breaking Hamilton's Matthew Haas to score the win in the third set 7-5. He was mobbed by his teammates when Haas' final shot sailed just long of the endline.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Saturday, April 28, with a 2:00 p.m. against another NESCAC foe in Trinity (Conn.).