WILLIAMSTOWN,
MA. – In what was a highly contested match in the
regular season, the Williams/Amherst match up today proved more one
sided than expected.
Amherst surged in doubles play to take a 3-0 lead before quickly
capturing two singles matches for the 5-0 win
over the Ephs in the NESCAC semifinals.
Williams appeared to be en route to taking at
least two of the three doubles matches, with Nick Lebedoff and Will
Petrie ahead 5-0 at court two and Jeremy Weinberger and Kevin
Shallcross up a break at court three. The Amherst pair at court two,
Austin Chafetz and Priit Gross, earned their win with eight
straight games for an 8-5 win. Amherst took
points at court one with an 8-6 victory, and another come back
match at court three, 8-6.
Weinberger and Chafetz played an exciting
three set match in their previous go around in the regular
season. While Chafetz came out on the top end of
that match and today's match, he had an easier time this
afternoon, winning 6-4, 6-0.
“We feel when we are playing our best
tennis that we can beat anyone in the country,” said
Williams' head coach Dave Donn. “I
felt that the match swung on a few points early on in doubles, and
we had trouble getting the momentum back.”
The Ephs await their fate in nationals
when the bracket is revealed on Monday.
“We have a day off on Monday, and then
we'll get right back to it,” continued
Donn. “We're not going to be judged
on how we finish in the middle, but how we finish at the end of the
season.”
Amherst 5,
Williams 0
Doubles-
1)
Lerner/Koeing (A) def. Thacher/Chaplin (W) --- 8-6
2)
Gross/Chafetz (A) def. Lebedoff/Petrie (W) --- 8-5
3) Waterman/Jung
(A) def. Weinberger/Shallcross (W) --- 8-6
Singles-
1)
Lebedoff (W) vs. Lerner (A) --- DNF
2)
Chafetz (A) def. Jeremy Weinberger (W) --- 6-4, 6-0
3)
Devlin (W) vs. Jung (A) --- DNF
4)
Koeing (A) def. Petrie (W) --- 6-1, 6-1
5)
Shallcross (W) vs. Gross (A) --- DNF
6)
Furmaga (W) vs. Waterman (A) --- DNF
