MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Going into Saturday's NESCAC Semifinal tilt, Amherst had not lost a match since March when they faced off against Division I outfit Harvard. Not only had the Lord Jeffs not lost a match in ten straight contests, they hadn't dropped more than two courts in a single one either. The Ephs have had no such luck in the same timeframe, dropping six matches, including an 8-1 disaster at the hands of their arch-rivals only two weeks ago. In fact, the Ephs had not tasted victory against their intrastate opponents in nearly two years, topping the Jeffs 5-4 in the 2013 NESCAC Championship match.
After turning around a 6-3 regular season loss to Tufts with a resounding 5-0 victory in the NESCAC Championship first round, the Ephs came out on Saturday looking to make that occurrence a trend, and they did just that, upending the nationally ranked #2 Lord Jeffs, 5-2, to hand them their first loss to a NESCAC team this season.
"So proud of their effort today, at every spot on and off the court," were the first words out of the mouth of Eph head coach Dan Greenberg after the Ephs' triumph.
And the Ephs' effort today, certainly could not have been questioned, as they made it their first goal to not sink into the 3-0 hole that sealed their fate during the regular season.
The Eph junior tandem of Alexander Schidlovsky and Brian Astrachan stormed out to a double-break lead at one-doubles, punishing their Jeff junior counterparts Michael Solimano and Aaron Revzin for a slow start, a slow start from which they would not recover, as Schidlovsky and Astrachan rode their pair of breaks all the way to an 8-4 win.
The other Jeff pairings did not fall victim to slow starts, however, as sophomore Anton Zykov and junior Andrew Yaraghi dismissed the Ephs' own sophomore-junior team of Rohan Shastri and Jose Raventos at two-doubles, 8-2.
In the final doubles match of the day, the in-form Eph freshmen duo of Sachin Raghavan and Brian Grodecki looked to continue a string of inspiring performances over the course of the past several weeks. They seized a chance at 2-all to break their veteran Jeff opponents, junior Russell Einbinder and senior Andrew Scheiner, and never relinquished control thereafter, clinging onto their break for dear life, all the way to an 8-6 win, lifting the Ephs to a crucial 2-1 lead after doubles.
So many times this season, however, the Ephs found themselves falling into complacency after a strong doubles performance, but that was not the case today. "They were completely engaged from start to finish, which is huge progress for this group," reflected Greenberg after watching his team battle and claw their way through tough singles duels on almost every court.
And it was none other than the freshman Raghavan that would lead the charge in singles, blitzing Jeff senior Sean Rodriguez before he could settle into the match, dismissing him with a pair of 6-1 sets.
The Jeffs responded in kind to the Ephs' early victory, as they notched a quick singles point of their own through sophomore Andrew Arnaboldi, cruising to a comfortable 6-0, 6-4 victory over Eph junior Brian Astrachan.
Next off the court was the other Eph freshman, Grodecki, at four-singles. Grodecki suffered an early setback in his match, as he was outmatched and overpowered in his first set with Revzin, but he was not down for the count after a 6-1 trouncing, bouncing back to take the second set 6-3, sending his match into a crucial deciding set. With the pressure on, Grodecki came up huge, racing out to an early 4-1 lead that was too much for Revzin to recover from in spite of a late surge that saw him earn a break back.
Grodecki's 6-4 final set triumph pulled the Ephs to within one point of booking their spot in the NESCAC Championship match, just one precious point, and the Ephs looked in prime position to get it as well with both Raventos and Shastri winning their first sets.
Doing battle with Yaraghi on court 1, Raventos was unable to close out his match in straight sets, as Yaraghi elevated his play in the second set to equalize the match at one set apiece.
However, Shastri had his double partner's back, managing to break through on Solimano's serve at 3-3, and from there, he would never look back. He calmly held serve to see the Ephs to within one game of clinching, and Solimano couldn't find a rhythm in his next service game, as Shastri punished him for his lapse by breaking again, lifting the Ephs to a momentous victory and snapping the Jeffs' 10-game winning streak.
Greenberg had nothing but praise for his freshmen and the team: "It was a really inspiring performance from [Raghavan and Grodecki] today, especially as rookies! Two completely different matches, but both guys dug in and found a way to win…It finally feels like we are realizing our potential, as a whole team, and want to reach it. Tomorrow will be another tough one, but we're nothing but excited for it."
Tomorrow the Ephs look to bring back the NESCAC title to Williamstown, after a yearlong stay in Amherst. The Ephs face off against the hosts, Middlebury, looking to overturn yet another regular-season 8-1 loss. The match is set to get underway at 9 AM EDT.
Williams 5, Amherst 2
1. Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) vs. Yaraghi, Andrew (AMHERST) 6-2, 3-6, 0-0 DNF
2. Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Solimano, Michael (AMHERST) 7-5, 6-3
3. Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) vs. Zykov, Anton (AMHERST) 5-7, 2-5 DNF
4. Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Revzin, Aaron (AMHERST) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Rodriguez, Sean (AMHERST) 6-1, 6-1
6. Arnaboldi, Andrew (AMHERST) def. Astrachan, Brian (WILLIAMS) 6-0, 6-4
1. Astrachan, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Solimano, Michael/Revzin, Andrew (AMHERST) 8-4
2. Yaraghi, Andrew/Zykov, Anton (AMHERST) def. Raventos, Jose/Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) 8-2
3. Raghavan, Sachin/Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Scheiner, Andrew/Einbinder, Russell (AMHERST) 8-6
Match Notes:
Williams 12-9, nationally ranked #16, regionally ranked #4
Amherst 19-5, nationally ranked #2, regionally ranked #1
