Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team returned to action for the first time since its return from Spring Break on Thursday afternoon when it faced red-hot Hobart in a Liberty League clash inside the Athletic & Events Center's Glazer Arena. The brutal stretch of difficult opponents to begin the year certainly continued with the Statesmen entering the day with a 5-1 record this spring that included dominant wins during a trip to California last week. The Bombers battled hard against their regional rival, but came up a point-or-two short in several key moments, falling by an 8-1 final margin.
 
Hobart 8 – Ithaca 1
Doubles
1. Alan Dubrovsky/Walker Anderson (HOBART) def. Minos Stavrakas/Colten Lavery (ITHACA) | 8-2
2. Michael Gardiner/Max Prestwich (ITHACA) def. Jonathan Atwater/Thomas Shung (HOBART) | 8-4
3. Colin Molloy/Jack Ledford (HOBART) def. Sam McGrath/Liam Spiegel (ITHACA) | 8-5
 
Singles
1. Alan Dubrovsky (HOBART) def. Minos Stavrakas (ITHACA) | 6-1, 6-2
2. Jonathan Atwater (HOBART) def. Sam McGrath (ITHACA) | 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 10-4
3. Walker Anderson (HOBART) def. Michael Gardiner (ITHACA) | 6-3, 6-3
4. Jack Ledford (HOBART) def. Colten Lavery (ITHACA) | 7-5, 6-2
5. Thomas Shung (HOBART) def. Sam Fried (ITHACA) | 6-3, 6-2
6. Colin Molloy (HOBART) def. Max Prestwich (ITHACA) | 6-4, 2-6, 10-6
 
Kicking off the day with the doubles session, Ithaca received its best performance at second-doubles, as the newly formed tandem of senior Michael Gardiner and junior Max Prestwich played phenomenally in an 8-4 triumph over Hobart's grouping of Jonathan Atwater and Thomas Shung. The upperclassmen duo really played off each other well to gain some early separation in the contest. On the strength of a couple breaks, the IC duo opened up a considerable lead and snuffed out a Hobart comeback with a big hold on serve. The effort kept IC in the match, trailing just 2-1 heading into singles.
 
The other doubles matchups did not go Ithaca's way, although the Bombers put up a good battle at the third-slot. Senior Sam McGrath and junior Liam Spiegel went back-and-forth throughout against Colin Molloy and Jack Ledford. IC's duo was within a break at 5-4, but Molloy and Ledford held on down the stretch to take the battle by an 8-5 margin. The first-doubles matchup was controlled from the outset by Hobart's pairing of Alan Dubrovsky and Walker Anderson. The Statesmen tandem earned an early break and never looked back in an 8-2 win.
 
Unfortunately, Ithaca was unable to build on the win by Gardiner and Prestwich to close out the doubles session. Hobart jumped back up by two points with the nation's fifth-ranked singles player, Alan Dubrovsky, carrying a 6-1, 6-2 straight-sets win over junior Minos Stavrakas in the first position. Lavery and Ledford did battle in an extremely tight opening set that was decided on a late break by the Hobart netter to take the opening set 7-5. Lavery was unable to pull the momentum back, as Ledford pulled away for a convincing 6-2 win in the second set. The two losses pushed IC to the brink, as they now trailed 4-1 in the match.
 
Walker Anderson clinched things for Hobart with back-to-back 6-3 set victories in the third-singles matchup against Gardiner. Junior Sam Fried followed with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Thomas Shung.
 
The match closed out with two highly competitive matches at the second and sixth-singles matchups. However, IC was not able to pull out either win in the third-set super-breakers.
 
McGrath got off to a great start in his second-singles clash with Hobart's Atwater. The IC senior scored a huge win in the first-set tiebreaker, surging past Atwater 7-3 to take the one-set lead. However, the momentum stalled for McGrath in the second set, which Atwater took in a runaway by a 6-1 margin. The momentum carried into the super-breaker, as Atwater seized control midway through with a string of points to win by a 10-4 margin.
 
Prestwich looked to cap the day with a comeback effort against Hobart's Colin Molloy in the sixth position. Although Prestwich was broken once in dropping the first set by a 6-4 margin, the IC junior rallied for a convincing 6-2 triumph in the second set to force a third-set super-breaker. Prestwich has been no stranger to these situations this season, as Thursday's battle with Molloy was the fourth time he went to a super-breaker this season. Things initially looked good for IC, as Prestwich broke Molloy for a pair of points to pull ahead 5-4 midway through the breaker, but Molloy broke Prestwich's serve back with a pair of points and then held his own serve to pull ahead by an 8-5 margin. IC's junior would not be able to mount the comeback, falling by a 10-6 margin.
 
Ithaca will continued Liberty League play on Saturday, March 30, when Vassar comes to South Hill for a 12:30 p.m. start.