Ephs upset Amherst in NESCAC semifinals, 5-3

AMHERST, MA. – Third-seeded Williams men's tennis (11-5, 6-2 NESCAC) avenged their regular season loss to second-seeded Amherst College (23-10, 7-1) in today's second NESCAC semifinal match in a 5-3 victory.  The Ephs used a critical 2-1 advantage in doubles play to propel themselves past a squad that had defeated them by a 7-2 margin on April 18.  

The twelfth-ranked Ephs snapped their four match losing streak against the fifth-ranked Lord Jeffs, and will take on Middlebury in tomorrow's tournament final in search of their first NESCAC championship since 2003.

“We started really strong, and did not let up at all throughout the whole match,” said Williams head coach Dan Greenberg.  “Those doubles teams at one and two are getting more confident with each match they play and that showed today.”

In their regular season showdown, Williams went down 2-1 and the Ephs' top two pairs faltered against the Lord Jeffs.  This was before Greenberg switched up the doubles pairings, and today's win proved that the change worked.  Bryan Chow and Dicken Chaplin won at court one, 8-4, while Nick Lebedoff and Will Petrie closed out a tight match at court two, 8-6.  While Felix Sun and Trey Meyer were the only doubles pair to tally a point in their last match with Amherst, today the freshman pair fell at court three, 8-4.

Due to inclement weather, the match was moved indoors at Hampshire College.  Therefore, only four singles matches could play to start.  Sun, Lebedoff, Chow, and Zach Weiss took the courts first in the one, two, four, and five spots, respectively.  

Sun fell quickly at court one against Amherst's Austin Chafetz, 6-1, 6-1.  Weiss brought the advantage back to the Ephs with a straight set win, 6-2, 6-1.  The match evened up once more when Lebedoff fell at court two.  Chow would give the Ephs their fourth point with a three set match, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.  

At this point, Jeremy Weinberger and Trey Meyer got on the courts, and the senior captain Weinberger clinched the fifth point to give the Ephs the win and a spot in the NESCAC final.  He won at court three, 6-2, 6-1.

“As a coach, I think what feels best is that the guys believe that all the work they have put in has payed off, and this win shows they have been improving” commented Greenberg.