SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The Ephs' men's tennis team opened their annual spring break trip to southern California on Monday afternoon the same way they have their last two seasons, against Division II opponent Point Loma Nazarene University. The Ephs and Sea Lions' previous two encounters had each been tightly contested affairs, with each side eking out a 5-4 verdict in their favor, but even though the San Diego side came into Monday with a five-match win-streak, that was not to be the case this year, as the Ephs turned in strong doubles and singles performances to earn a 7-2 victory.
In doubles, the Ephs stormed out to a quick 2-0 lead after the senior-sophomore pairings of Jose Raventos and Jordan Sadowsky and Alexander Schidlovsky and Brian Grodecki dismissed their opponents 8-3 and 8-4 respectively.
In danger of allowing the match to slip out of their hands before the singles portion had even begun, the Sea Lions fought back ferociously at three-doubles. The veteran, senior duo of Martin Blaho and James Tenbroeck kept it close the whole way, forcing Eph senior Brian Astrachan and junior Rohan Shastri into an 8-all tiebreaker to decide who would win that all-important third doubles point. The Ephs started out well enough to keep the tiebreaker on-serve at 2-2, but then the Sea Lions rattled off five straight points to draw their team within one of the Ephs heading into singles play.
With the momentum in their favor from the conclusion of the doubles portion, the Sea Lions roared out of the blocks and were the first to claim a point thanks to the efforts of CJ Erion, who toughed out a difficult first set with Schidlovsky, 6-4, before making quick work of the Eph senior in the second, 6-0.
The score was only briefly level, however, as the Ephs' standout sophomores, Grodecki and Sachin Raghavan, continued the reliable form they demonstrated in their freshman seasons, defeating Daniel Milliken and Jack Alston at three- and five-singles respectively.
Needing only one more point to clinch, the Ephs found themselves with two matches heading to a third set and another back-and-forth affair at the number six position. Performances in third sets proved to be somewhat of an Achilles' heel for the Ephs in the 2014-2015 season, winning only 11 of 23 over the course of the season, but early indications point toward history not repeating itself this year, as the Ephs were resilient enough to win both of their three-set matches on courts one and two.
Raventos was the man to clinch the match for the purple and gold, as he fought back from losing his first set 6-3 to Blaho, to only allow Blaho four more games en route to a pair of 6-2 sets.
First-year Deepak Intrakanti and Rohan Shastri added their matches to the Ephs' tally before all was said and done, as the Cincinnati-native got the better of his more experienced Sea Lion opponent, Adrian von Braun, in the first-set tiebreaker, 7-2, before grinding out a second-set scoreline of 6-4.
Right on the heels of Intrakanti, Shastri closed out his own match in three sets, recovering from a second-set setback against Tenbroeck to see off his adversary 6-4 in the deciding set and polishing off the 7-2 scoreline for the Ephs.
After the match, Eph head coach Dan Greenberg heaped praise on his team's performance on all fronts: "This was a great first match for us. We found our stride early in doubles and improved throughout the pro-sets and played solid singles all around. We're really excited to build on this win."
The Ephs will look to continue their perfect start of the season two days from now, on Wednesday, when they make the short trip north to Claremont where they will face off against Pomona-Pitzer at 4 PM PDT.
Williams 7, Point Loma 2
- Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) def. Blaho, Martin (POINT LOMA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
- Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Tenbroeck, James (POINT LOMA) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
- Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Milliken, Daniel (POINT LOMA) 6-1, 6-3
- Erion, CJ (POINT LOMA) def. Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) 6-4, 6-0
- Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Alston, Jack (POINT LOMA) 6-3, 6-4
- Intrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) def. von Braun, Adrian (POINT LOMA) 7-6(2), 6-4
- Grodecki, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Alston, Jack/Milliken, Daniel (POINT LOMA) 8-4
- Raventos, Jose/Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. von Braun, Adrian/Erion, CJ (POINT LOMA) 8-3
- Blaho, Martin/Tenbroeck, James (POINT LOMA) def. Astrachan, Brian/Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) 9-8(2)
Order of Finish:
Doubles - 2, 1, 3
Singles - 4, 3, 5, 1, 6, 2
Match Notes:
Williams 3-0, nationally ranked #14, regionally ranked #4
Point Loma 8-10, nationally ranked #26, regionally ranked #5
