Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team looked to make it three straight wins to close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon when it concluded its scheduled slate with a non-league battle against NESCAC foe Connecticut College inside the Athletics & Events Center's Glazer Arena. Although the Bombers battled tooth-and-nail in this competitive tilt, the Camels ultimately came out on top in a 6-3 decision. The loss drops IC's record to 6-9 on the year.
 
Prior to the beginning of the match, the Bombers honored its lone graduating member of the Class of 2018, as well as two women's team graduates in senior Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos, senior Sam Brown, and junior Taylor Ginestro. A heartfelt presentation by head coach Bill Austin was highlighted by each player getting a framed uniform, while the player's family members joined the graduates on the court to end the ceremony.
 
The doubles session was extremely exciting, as the Bombers and Camels each picked up a somewhat comfortable result, before locking in a heated battle for the extra team point at second-doubles. Unfortunately, it would be Connecticut College that would take the swing point to head into the singles session up 2-1.
 
Ithaca got off to a quick start on the afternoon when the sophomore tandem of Minos Stavrakas and Colten Lavery combined for their ninth victory of the spring with an 8-6 triumph at first-doubles. IC's talented second-year grouping bested Connecticut's Ben Sachs and Will Cannon 8-6. Sadly, the lead did not last for long, as Patrick Farrell and Zak Danz evened things for the visitors with an 8-3 win over Ithaca's third-doubles pairing of sophomore Liam Spiegel and junior Garrett Boleslav.
 
With both teams feeling the importance of the middle frame, IC and Connecticut went toe-to-toe in one of the most intense doubles matchups of the season. In a punch-counter-punch kind of battle, IC's duo of junior Sam McGrath and senior Lorenzo Viguie-Ramos hung with the visitor's tandem of Charlie Williams and Johnny Cissel. Nothing separated the two sides through 14 games, so the two sides went to a tiebreaker.
 
Again it was more of the same, as the Bombers and Camels continued to trade blows with big rallies, much to the delight of the large crowd in attendance for senior day. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be for the Bombers second-tandem as Williams and Cissel were able to string two points together to win the breaker 9-7.
 
Showing classic resilience of a team that has been through several of these nail-biting battles throughout this season, Ithaca responded right away in the singles session. Stavrakas picked up his 14^th victory of the season with a come-from-behind effort at first-singles. After dropping his opening set to Charlie Williams, he rallied for a 6-2 win in the second set, before taking a 10-5 win in the third-set super-breaker. The win leveled the match at 2-2.
 
The next counter in the match came from Connecticut College, as the Camels rattled off victories at fourth-singles and third-singles to push Ithaca to the brink. Sophomore Sam Fried played a competitive match in bumping up to the fourth spot in the absence of the injured Max Prestwich. He fell 5-7, 6-7 (5-7) to Connecticut's Ben Sachs. Lavery's match went to three sets in the third-singles matchup against Henry DeCoster. The IC sophomore won the opening set 6-3, but was unable to close things out, with DeCoster rallying for a 6-3 second-set win and taking the third-set super-breaker 10-6.
 
IC stayed alive in the match with a big time effort from McGrath at second-singles. He took the opening set in a hotly contested tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5) and used a late break to take the second frame 7-5 over the Camels' Will Cannon. The win was McGrath's 14^th singles triumph of the year.
 
Sadly, the visitors clinched the match at fifth-singles with SangJin Song scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win over IC's senior Viguie-Ramos in the fifth-flight to score Connecticut's decisive fifth team point in the match.
 
Despite the set-back, Ithaca finished things out on a high note in the sixth-flight, as freshman George Lomas picked up his second win of the season with a thrilling second-set comeback. Up a set, but down 5-2 in the second frame, he rallied to win five consecutive games, which included three breaks to defeat Patrick Farrell 6-3, 7-5.
 
Ithaca returns to action this coming Friday, May 4, when it takes on Vassar College in the Quarterfinal Round of the Liberty League Tournament. The event is set to be hosted at Cornell's Reis Tennis Center, with the Semifinal Round set to be played on Saturday and the League Championship Match on Sunday.