NEW LONDON, CT — The Ephs continued to build up their momentum looking toward next weekend's clash against arch-rival Amherst College as they traveled to southern Connecticut on Sunday to face off against the Camels of Connecticut College. The Camels had a strong non-conference season but have struggled in NESCAC play, reeling from four straight NESCAC losses coming into the dual on Sunday, and their struggles only continued, as the Ephs handed them a resounding 9-0 defeat to lift their own NESCAC record to 2-1 on the season.
It was clear from very early on that the Ephs had come to play on Sunday, as all three doubles courts were taken by more than a one-break margin.
As soon as the first Camel pairing of junior Jonathan Deeter and sophomore Daniel Maffa fell at two-doubles, 8-2, to the Eph's own junior-sophomore combination of Jose Raventos and Rohan Shastri, the other two courts were quick to follow with the Eph tandem of freshman Jordan Sadowsky and junior Alexander Schidlovsky claiming their match on court 1, 8-3, mere moments before the other Eph freshman-junior duo of Brian Grodecki and Brian Astrachan downed their Camel counterparts at three-doubles, 8-4.
If the Camels had any hopes of mounting a comeback in singles, those hopes were dashed quickly, as the Eph onslaught continued with Sadowsky the first off the court at six-singles, blanking his opponent, Camel senior Jeff Basch.
The Ephs would put the Camels out of their misery a short time later, and it was Raventos who would do the deed and clinch the match for the Ephs, cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Camel number-one Joshua Suneby.
Still with work left to be done, the remaining Ephs all cleaned house, with Shastri, Grodecki, Raghavan, and sophomore Conrad Harron all collecting straight-set wins at their respective positions to lift the Ephs to their first 9-0 win of the season.
After the match, Eph head coach Dan Greenberg had nothing but praise for his team's performances this weekend: "Overall it was a good weekend, and I thought today was really solid. We're giving up fewer points and starting to play the right style of tennis for each player."
He also alluded to next weekend's clash with top-ranked regional rival Amherst: "We'll be ready. We're looking forward to a full week of practice with these wins under our belt, and then focus on next weekend."
The Ephs are set for another double-header away weekend next Saturday and Sunday, which is set to get underway at 1 PM EDT on Saturday against the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College.
Williams 9, Connecticut College 0
1. Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) def. Suneby, Joshua (CONN) 6-0, 6-1
2. Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Kraiger, Jonathan (CONN) 6-3, 6-2
3. Harron, Conrad (WILLIAMS) def. Deeter, Jonathan (CONN) 6-1, 6-4
4. Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Maffa, Daniel (CONN) 6-0, 6-3
5. Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Sachs, Ben (CONN) 6-2, 6-1
6. Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Basch, Jeff (CONN) 6-0, 6-0
1. Sadowsky, Jordan/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Sachs, Ben/Kraiger, Jonathan (CONN) 8-3
2. Raventos, Jose/Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Deeter, Jonathan/Maffa, Daniel (CONN) 8-2
3. Astrachan, Brian/Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Suneby, Joshua/Fratt, Mike (CONN) 8-4
Match Notes:
Williams 8-6 (NESCAC 2-1), nationally ranked #14, regionally ranked #4
Connecticut College 7-8 (NESCAC 0-5), nationally unranked, regionally ranked #20
