Draws (PDF)
 
GENEVA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team hit the road for its biggest event of the fall season on Friday when it began action at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Championships at Hobart's Tennis Complex. Unfortunately, the opening day of competition was not kind to the Bombers, as IC failed to advance any of its singles entrants or doubles tandems to tomorrow's rounds. Ithaca finished the day with a 1-5 mark in singles play and an 0-2 record in doubles.
 
Ithaca began the day with high expectations, as the team had gotten off to a strong start to the year in two events this fall. Putting together some strong results at both the St. Lawrence Invitational and the Bloomsburg Invitational, IC was able to qualify five entrants to this weekend's tournament in singles play, as well as two doubles tandems. Headlining the group was junior Minos Stavrakas, who earned Ithaca's lone seed at the event, entering the singles draw as the sixth-seeded entrant. Also qualifying in singles were: seniors Sam McGrath and Michael Gardiner, as well as juniors Colten Lavery and Liam Spiegel.
 
The highlight of the day came from senior Michael Gardiner who scored IC's lone victory of the day in his opening-round singles triumph. Gardiner posted a victory over TCNJ's Matt Puig in a strong performance. The IC senior imposed his will early, scoring a pair of breaks in a 6-3 opening-set win. He continued to press in the second set, coasting past Puig in a 6-2 score that advanced him to the second round.
 
Sadly that was the lone high-point for the Bombers on this day, as things started out sour during the morning session and did not improve much throughout a frustrating opening day. Gardiner ran into eighth-seed Clayton Thompson from RPI in the Round of 32 and struggled to keep the momentum in a 6-2, 6-2 straight-sets loss.
 
The warning signs for the tough day came early, as Stavrakas and Lavery opened the day on the wrong side of hard-fought battles. Both players had tricky matchups in the opening round, as Stavrakas faced a talented upstart freshman in Rahul Dash of NYU, while Lavery took on NESCAC foe Joseph Reiner of Hamilton. Both contests were incredibly tight match-ups with Stavrakas falling in a shocker 6-4, 6-4. Lavery's contest went three sets, as IC's junior won the first set 6-3, but was unable to keep the momentum with Reiner storming back to take the second set 6-2 and triumphing 10-5 in the super-breaker.
 
The toughest match-up of the morning session was McGrath's. The senior drew one of the toughest opponents in the field in fifth-seed Vishal Walia of NYU. Making matters more difficult was that McGrath was just returning to competition action after managing an injury earlier this fall. Walia took control of the contest early and never really allowed McGrath to get a foothold in a 6-0, 6-2 straight-sets defeat.
 
Spiegel was the final player to get his day underway in singles, as he earned a late spot in the draw from the waiting list. He faced Hamilton's Max Zimmerman in the opening round. The junior got off to a bit of a slow start in a 6-1 opening set, but really pushed back in the second frame. He nearly extended the match to a third-set super-breaker, but Zimmerman was able to hold off the charge late in a 7-5 win in the second set.
 
Ithaca had a chance to salvage the day during the doubles session, but some lingering frustration may have carried over to the evening. IC's top pairing of Stavrakas and Gardiner played well for the most part extending a pro-set to 16 games against Hobart's Colin Molloy and Jack Ledford. The two tandems battled back-and-forth in a closely contested match-up, which was pulled out by the Statesmen duo in a 9-7 result.
 
The final match of the day for the Bombers came from newly formed tandem of Lavery and Spiegel. The duo have not combined much in doubles play over the past two seasons, but ramped up to give it a go for the first time in competition this fall. The junior combo held competitive early against RPI's Brian Niguidula and Eddie Wu, trailing just 4-3 midway through the pro-set. Sadly, the Engineers' combo got hot down the stretch, winning four straight games to win 8-3.
 
Ithaca returns to action for the spring season on Saturday, February 23, when it welcomes Rochester to Glazer Arena in a 10:00 a.m. start.