SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team continued its road swing on Saturday afternoon when it took on Union in a crucial Liberty League match in the chase for postseason positioning. The Bombers kept on rolling in league play with a 6-3 win over the Dutchmen. The victory improves IC's record to 4-2 in league play this spring.
Doubles
1. Minos Stavrakas/Colten Lavery (ITHACA) def. Austin Egna/Max Egna (UNION) | 8-2
2. Ioannis Binopoulos/David Bond (UNION) def. Michael Gardiner/Max Prestwich (ITHACA) | 8-5
3. Sam McGrath/Liam Spiegel (ITHACA) def. Cameron Klepper/Nick Weitzman (UNION) | 8-5
Singles
1. Minos Stavrakas (ITHACA) def. Ioannis Binopoulos (UNION) | 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
2. Sam McGrath (ITHACA) def. Del Schunk (UNION) | 6-0, 6-2
3. Cameron Klepper (UNION) def. Michael Gardiner (ITHACA) | 5-7, 6-2, 6-0
4. Colten Lavery (ITHACA) def. Max Egna (UNION) | 6-4, 6-2
5. Austin Egna (UNION) def. Max Prestwich (ITHACA) | 7-6 (11-9), 2-6, 6-2
6. Garrett Boleslav (ITHACA) def. David Bond (UNION) | 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
The Bombers entered Saturday's match needing to score a crucial result on the road. With a log-jam of four teams battling for positioning for the final three postseason slots, Ithaca not only scored a crucial head-to-head win, but ultimately elevated to the fourth position when the dust settled on Saturday.
As has been the case during Ithaca's latest five-match stretch, the team got off to a positive start to the doubles session. The Bombers scored wins in two of the three bouts to take a lead into the singles session.
The junior duo of
Minos Stavrakas and
Colten Lavery roared out to a commanding lead and performed well through the end to finish Union's brother duo of Austin and Max Egna by an 8-2 margin. It was the grouping's seventh victory as a tandem this season. Adding on a second victory was the duo of
Sam McGrath and junior
Liam Spiegel, who outlasted Cameron Klepper and Nick Weitzman by an 8-5 margin. The result offset Union's lone win in the session, an 8-5 triumph by Ioannis Binopoulos and David Bond over IC's senior
Michael Gardiner and junior
Max Prestwich.
Ithaca did not let off the gas during the singles session, continuing to build its lead with some commanding results early. McGrath blew past Union's Del Schunk in the second-singles matchup, winning 6-0, 6-2 to open up the IC lead to 3-1. Lavery followed with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Max Egna in the fourth position to put the Bombers in position to clinch.
The other matchups all went the distance in three-set battles. Although Union was able to stave off the clinch at third-singles with Gardiner falling to Klepper, senior
Garrett Boleslav locked things up for IC in the sixth position. He rallied from a 6-4 defeat in the opening set, conceding just five games over the final two sets in 6-3 and 6-2 wins. The triumph improves Boleslav's record to a perfect 4-0 in Liberty League singles action this season.
Stavrakas earned IC's final victory in the first position. He took the win with a 6-4 triumph in the opening set and a 6-3 win in the third set in his match against Binopoulos.
Ithaca returns to the courts tomorrow afternoon when it faces nationally-ranked Skidmore at 1:00 p.m. in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
