Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team got its spring schedule underway on Sunday afternoon when the Bombers welcomed University of Rochester for their home opener inside the Athletics & Events Center's Glazer Arena. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a sour start to IC's dual match campaign, as the Yellowjackets pulled away for a 7-2 decision on Sunday. The loss drops Ithaca's record to 0-1 on the year.
The Bombers and Yellowjackets have been quite evenly matched over recent seasons and Sunday once-again was expected to be a closely contested match between two sides looking to get off to a fast start to the spring slate. The doubles session certainly set a phrenetic pace of play that would continue throughout the afternoon. However, last season's bugaboo of getting off to a slow start in tandems action again crept up on IC on Sunday. It would end up being a big uphill climb for the Bombers, as Rochester took all three doubles matchups to take a commanding 3-0 lead into the singles session.
The second-doubles matchup was the first to conclude with Yifan Shen and Tanmay Thakkar downing IC's tandem of senior
Sam McGrath and junior
Colten Lavery. The newly formed grouping struggled to get any traction against Rochester's difficult and experienced duo, as McGrath and Lavery fell in an 8-3 decision.
The visitor's lead ballooned when Sahaj Somani and Peter Huang were able to outlast sophomore
Sam Fried and junior
Liam Spiegel in a competitive 8-6 decision. Masaru Fujimaki and Runjia Fang followed shortly thereafter with an 8-5 triumph over IC's top-slot tandem of junior
Minos Stavrakas and
Michael Gardiner.
The Bombers were able to snatch back a pair of points in the singles session, but it would not be enough. The Yellowjackets picked up four-of-six singles matchups to pull away for the 7-2 decision.
Bright spots on the day for Ithaca was the play of McGrath and Lavery in singles. Both players picked up victories in straight-sets. McGrath defeated Fang in a 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) decision, while Lavery took his matchup against Thakkar by a 6-4, 7-5 count.
Three other Bombers took things to a third set against the Yellowjackets, but ultimately could not get pull off comeback victories. Although losses, the efforts were certainly something to build on moving forward.
In the first-singles matchup, Stavrakas battled back from 3-6 opening set to level the matchup against Fujimaki at a set apiece with a 6-3 triumph in the middle frame. Unfortunately, he could not sustain the momentum in the decisive third set, falling by a 6-2 margin. The third-singles matchup between Rochester's Shen and Ithaca's Gardiner also was characterized by big momentum swings. Gardiner dropped the opening set 6-2, before rallying for a 6-2 win of his own in the second. However, like Stavrakas, he lost the good vibes in the third set, coming up short in a 6-1 set defeat. Spiegel also went the distance at sixth-singles, but came up just short in an 11-9 superbreaker that decided the matchup with the match already clinched by the visitors.
Ithaca returns to action next Sunday, March 3, when it opens Liberty League play with a 2:00 p.m. clash against St. Lawrence inside Glazer Arena.
