WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In the first dual of a double-header for Williams on Sunday, the Ephs looked to end their two-match skid against the Cardinals of Wesleyan University and notch their first conference win of the season.
Just like on Saturday against Middlebury, the all-NESCAC contest was moved indoors due to cold temperatures. However, the Ephs learned from their slip against Middlebury in doubles, sweeping the red and black on all three courts to give themselves a commanding lead going into singles.
The number two Eph pairing of Jose Raventos and Jordan Sadowsky led the charge for the Ephs, as they cruised to an 8-0 victory over their Cardinal adversaries, inspiring their teammates at one- and three-doubles on to 8-4 scorelines.
Needing only two more points to clinch the match, the Ephs looked up to the task, winning three of the four first sets on the courts by 6-4 margins. The Cardinals were not about to give up hope, however, as Joachim Samson refused to capitulate to the pressure of Alexander Schidlovsky, pushing the Eph senior all the way to a first-set tiebreaker and then edging out the Eph co-captain by a 7-4 margin to take the first set and give the Connecticut side a glimmer of hope if they could win some second sets on the other courts.
However, Samson's example could not be emulated on any of the other courts, and wins from Raventos on Court #1 foreshadowed a Brian Grodecki win on Court #3 that downed the Cardinals' hopes of a momentous comeback before it could really get off the ground.
In the second dual of the afternoon, the Ephs looked to continue their good form from the earlier session against another Connecticut team, the Camels of Connecticut College.
Just like against the Cardinals, the Ephs came out firing on all cylinders in doubles, sweeping all three courts to give themselves a commanding 3-0 lead after doubles that was consolidated when Deepak Indrakanti and Jordan Sadowsky swept aside their opposition to clinch the match for the Ephs, before the purple and gold won on the remaining courts to polish off the afternoon with a 9-0 scoreline.
After the long day of tennis, Eph head coach Dan Greenberg commented on the weekend's performances: "I thought we stayed sharp after a long weekend, and we had the opportunity to get everyone some good matches to finish off the day. We're really looking forward to continue learning from both our wins and losses this week."
After three matches in two days, the Ephs' schedule now permits them six days of rest before their next match, when they host the Jumbos of Tufts University next Sunday at 1 PM EDT on the Torrence M. Hunt '44 Tournament Courts.
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Williams 5, Wesleyan 0
- Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) def. Liu, Michael (WESLEYAN) 6-4, 6-1
- Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) v. Chen, Steven (WESLEYAN) 6-4, 4-5 DNF
- Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Eusebio, Tiago (WESLEYAN) 6-4, 6-4
- Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) v. Samson, Joachim (WESLEYAN) 6-7(4), 5-5 DNF
- Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) v. Daniels, Cameron (WESLEYAN) 0-0 DNF
- Indrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) v. Roberts, Jake (WESLEYAN) DNP
- Grodecki, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Brint, Zachary/Lyon, Greg (WESLEYAN) 8-4
- Raventos, Jose/Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Chen, Steven/ Liu, Michael (WESLEYAN) 8-0
- Astrachan, Brian/Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Rudovsky, Sam/Samson, Joachim (WESLEYAN) 8-4
Order of Finish:
Doubles - 2, 1, 3
Singles - 1, 3
Match Notes:
Williams 8-2 (NESCAC 1-1), nationally ranked #9, regionally ranked #4 (Northeast)
Wesleyan 4-4 (NESCAC 0-2), nationally ranked #11, regionally ranked #5 (Northeast)
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Williams 9, Connecticut College 0
- Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Kraiger, Jonathan (CONN) 6-2, 6-4
- Indrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) def. Maffa, Daniel (CONN) 6-0, 6-1
- Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Cannon, Will (CONN) 6-1, 6-1
- Mackall, Blake (WILLIAMS) def. Sachs, Ben (CONN) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0(8)
- O'Connor, Christian (WILLIAMS) def. Hecker, Ethan (CONN) 6-1
- Wu, Auxin (Christopher) (WILLIAMS) def. Wright, James (CONN) 6-4
- Grodecki, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Kraiger, Jonathan /Sachs, Ben (CONN) 8-3
- Raventos, Jose/Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Maffa, Daniel/Williams, Charlie (CONN) 8-3
- Astrachan, Brian/Indrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) def. Cannon, Will /Wright, James(CONN) 8-6
Match Notes:
Williams 9-2 (NESCAC 2-1), nationally ranked #9, regionally ranked #4 (Northeast)
Conn College 3-8 (NESCAC 0-2), regionally ranked #17 (Northeast)
