WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Dave Donn's 7th-ranked
Williams men's tennis team trailed 11th-ranked Bowdoin 2-1 after
doubles play, but the Eph singles players overcame the one point
deficit to win five of six contests and post a 6-3 win in Lansing
Chapman Rink.
The win raises the Williams season record to 7-3/2-1 NESCAC, while
Bowdoin falls to 10-3/5-2 in NESCAC.
"This was a most satisfying win today," noted Donn. "We were
aggressive on points today which was big, especially coming off a
close loss at Amherst. It was good to see the top of our singles
lineup step up and earn the big points. It was a great turnaround
from last weekend."
Bowdoin claimed doubles wins at one and two. Oscar Pena and Jamie
Neely downed the Ephs' top doubles team of Bret Thacher and Dicken
Chaplin 8-4. The Polar Bears' Alex Caughron and Stephen Sullivan
teamed up to dispose of the Ephs #2 duo of Nick Lebedoff and Will
Petrie, 8-3. The lone Eph doubles point came from Jeremy Weinberger
and Kevin Shallcross as they defeated Alex White and Tyler
Anderson, 8-3.
"Bowdoin is a tough team that fights for every point so that made
it even more important for us to get off to a good start in
singles," stated Donn. "With our top three [Lebedoff, Weinberger
& Devlin] winning straight sets we were back in control and
then needed to find a way to close out the match up 4-2."
Senior Karol Furmaga fell at six singles to Josh Cranin in straight
sets to narrow the Eph margin to 4-3 and first years Will Petrie
and Kevin Shallcross, who both opened winning their first sets were
pushed to a third set.
Petrie would get the honor of clinching the match when he downed
Caughron 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and Shallcross finished off the competition
winning his match over White 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
"This was a good all-around win for us," said Donn. "Will and Kevin
kept their composure and got wins and everyone responded to the
deficit we had coming out of doubles."
Next up for the Ephs is a 10:00 AM match tomorrow at home vs.
NESCAC foe Colby.
Williams 6, Bowdoin 3
Doubles
1. Pena/Neely (B) def. Thacher/Chaplin (W)
– 8-4
2. Caughron/Sullivan (B) def. Lebedoff/Petrie (W)
– 8-3
3. Weinberger/Shallcross (W) def. White/Anderson
(B) – 8-3
Singles
1. Lebedoff (W) def. Sullivan (B) – 6-1,
6-3
2. Weinberger (W) def. Pena (B) – 6-3,
6-3
3. Rick Devlin (W) def. Anderson (B) – 6-3,
6-1
4. Petrie (W) def. Caughron (B) – 6-3, 5-7,
6-4
5. Shallcross (W) def. White (B) – 6-0, 6-7
(4), 6-3
6. Cranin (B) def. Karol Furmaga (W) – 6-1,
6-3
