Box Score (PDF)
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's tennis team got its postseason run underway on Friday afternoon when it traveled across town to Cornell's Reis Tennis Center on East Hill for the 2019 Liberty League Championships. Locking into a grueling battle against Vassar in the always close fourth-seed, fifth-seed contest, the Bombers prevailed in thrilling fashion with a 5-3 victory. The win punched Ithaca's ticket to the Semifinal Round and a matchup against the tournament's top seed, nationally-ranked Skidmore, to be held at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 4.
The parallels to last season could not be understated when the Bombers and Brewers took to the indoor courts at the Reis Tennis Center on Friday. Last spring, the two sides met in the Quarterfinal Round under similar circumstances, with IC winning the head-to-head matchup during the regular-season, only to have Vassar take the postseason meeting by a 6-3 margin. Earlier this spring, Ithaca again secured the head-to-head matchup during the regular-season meeting, scoring a convincing 7-2 result inside the Athletics & Events Center's Glazer Arena on March 30
th. However, Ithaca entered the day still carrying that sense of unfinished business and turned in a thrilling performance to avenge last year's postseason result.
Doubles
1. Minos Stavrakas/Colten Lavery (ITHACA) def. Allen Sokolov/Jeremy Auh (VASSAR) | 8-4
2. Michael Gariner/Max Prestwich (ITHACA) def. Mathey Yee/Nicolas Demaria (VASSAR) | 8-2
3. Adam Krueger/David Gandham (VASSAR) def. Liam Spiegel/Sam McGrath (ITHACA) | 8-7 (7-0)
Singles
1. Minos Stavrakas (ITHACA) def. David Gandham (VASSAR) | 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
2. Sam McGrath (ITHACA) def. Mathew Yee (VASSAR) | 6-2, 6-4
3. Jamie Anderson (VASSAR) def. Michael Gardiner (ITHACA) | 6-3, 6-4
4. Adam Krueger (VASSAR) def. Colten Lavery (ITHACA) | 6-3, 6-2
5. Max Prestwich (ITHACA) vs. Allen Sokolov (VASSAR) | 6-3, 2-6, 2-5 **UNFINISHED**
6. Garrett Boleslav (ITHACA) def. Jeremey Auh (VASSAR) | 6-4, 7-5
The tone for today's contest was set right from the outset of the doubles session, as both sides came out with great energy and enthusiasm. It was the Bombers that gained the upper hand early with inspired performances across all three doubles bouts.
It was the second-slot that got Ithaca off and running on the scoreboard. Senior
Michael Gardiner and junior
Max Prestwich scored a couple early breaks and raced out to a 6-1 lead en route to an 8-2 triumph over Mathew Yee and Nicolas Demaria. Shortly thereafter, the junior tandem of
Minos Stavrakas and
Colten Lavery took down Allen Sokolov and Jeremy Auh 8-4 in the first lineup slot to double Ithaca's lead. Just like the regular-season matchup, IC had an early 2-0 lead and threatened to take a commanding lead into the singles session.
Vassar responded in the third position with a big win from Adam Krueger and David Gandham to salvage the doubles session for the Brewers and snatch some momentum heading into singles play. Spiegel and McGrath held slim leads throughout the matchup, but a service break late in pro-set helped the Brewers grouping jump ahead. The contest would head to a tiebreaker, which Krueger and Gandham completely controlled, winning a big team point for the Brewers with a 7-0 triumph.
Vassar carried the momentum from that win into the beginning portions of the singles session. Although IC had some promising starts in several of the singles battles, it was Vassar that scored the first two team points of the session with wins in the third and fourth positions. Krueger continued to wield the hot hand in besting Lavery 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth slot to level the match at 2-2. Vassar's Jamie Anderson gave the Brewers their first lead of the day with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Gardiner at third-singles. Gardiner did well to extend the matchup after falling behind by a set and a 5-2 margin in the second set. He scored a big service break in a double-flip to close the set to a 5-4 margin, but Anderson held on take the set 6-4.
The Bombers pushed back over the ensuing stretch. Senior
Garrett Boleslav got the comeback started for IC with a big win in the sixth position over Jeremy Auh. Both sets were closely contested, with Boleslav coming up with the clutch shots late to win 6-4, 7-5. McGrath followed with an excellent win over Mathew Yee in the second lineup slot. The IC senior set the tone early with a convincing 6-2 win in the opening set, while he raced out to a commanding 4-1 lead in the second. Yee did not go down without a fight, scrapping through several long protracted points to claw back within a game at 5-4. McGrath ultimately made good on his third chance to close out the match, slotting a backhand winner inside the line to put Ithaca back ahead 4-3.
The final two bouts still competing on the day were highly entertaining clashes. Ultimately, it was Stavrakas that earned the clinching point in the first position, besting David Gandham 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. The first set was back-and-forth throughout and went to a breaker. Stavrakas raced out to a 4-0 lead in the breaker, while Gandham responded with four straight points to level things up. IC's netter prevailed in the end, hitting a pair of big forehand winners to gain the early leg up. The second set was dominated by Stavrakas early, as he jumped out to a 3-0 lead and inched the advantage up to 5-2, before Gandham launched one final stand. The Vassar netter held serve and then broke Stavrakas' serve to close within a game at 5-4. The match ultimately ended in somewhat anticlimactic fashion, as a visibly fatigued Gandham double-faulted twice in succession to end the matchup after Stavrakas began the game with two nice winners.
Prestwich's match was the only one not to finish. He took the opening set against Allen Sokolov 6-3, but struggled to close things out as the match continued. The Brewers netter won the second set 6-2 and held a 5-2 advantage in the third when play was suspended after Stavrakas' clinching point.
Ithaca will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when it faces top-seeded Skidmore at 2:30 p.m.
