LEWISTON, Maine — The Ephs' weekend road-trip to Maine ended on Sunday with a clash against Bates on Sunday afternoon. Licking their wounds after their 8-1 defeat to Bowdoin, the Ephs went into Sunday looking to rebuild momentum looking forward to their dual against arch-rivals Amherst next week, a goal which they accomplished with a flourish, besting the Bobcats 8-1.
After a turgid showing on Saturday, the Ephs' doubles seemed fully revitalized against the Bobcats, as the western-Massachusetts side recorded wins on all three courts to put themselves in an advantageous position going into singles.
Jose Raventos and Jordan Sadowsky led the cause for the purple and gold, as they swept aside Pat Ordway and Fergus Scott at the number two position, racing to an 8-0 scoreline, before their fellow Ephs on courts one and three followed suit with 8-5 and 8-4 margins of victories respectively.
Riding the wave of their solid doubles performances, the purple cows charged out to a similarly quick lead in singles, as Alexander Schidlovsky and Deepak Indrakanti swiftly saw off their opponents 6-1, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-1 on the way to securing the match for the ninth-ranked team in the country.
The Ephs were not done yet, however, as Sadowsky added his own point to the board from his spot at the number six position, dispatching Brent Feldman with a pair of 6-2 sets.
Of the three courts remaining, the Bobcats fought back very well on two of them, pushing their Eph counterparts the distance at both one- and two-singles.
Chris Ellis fought back valiantly on court two after losing the first set to Brian Grodecki, 6-4, reversing the first set scoreline in his own favor. However, the Bobcat junior failed to fully complete the comeback, as the Eph sophomore outlasted Ellis 10-8 in the super tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set.
Ben Rosen, on the other hand, was able to complete his comeback against Raventos at one-singles after dropping the first set to the Costa Rican 7-5 in the six-all tiebreaker. The sophomore from New York bounced back well from his disappointing tiebreak loss to win the second set 6-3, before triumphing over the Eph senior 10-6 in the super tiebreaker to ensure the Bobcats a consolation point in the dual.
The Ephs return home and have the full week off before they host conference- and intra-state rivals, Amherst College, in their penultimate regular-season match, scheduled to get started next Saturday at 1 PM EDT at the Torrence M. Hunt '44 Tournament Courts.
Williams 8, Bates 1
- Rosen, Ben (BATES) def. Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) 6-7(5), 6-3, 1-0(6)
- Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Ellis, Chris (BATES) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(8)
- Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Scott, Fergus (BATES) 6-1, 6-4
- Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Quijano, Josh (BATES) 7-5, 6-2
- Indrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) def. Ordway, Pat (BATES) 6-4, 6-1
- Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Feldman, Brent (BATES) 6-2, 6-2
- Grodecki, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Ellis, Chris/Rosen, Ben (BATES) 8-5
- Raventos, Jose/Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Ordway, Pat/Scott, Fergus (BATES) 8-0
- Astrachan, Brian/Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Leiner, Josh/Quijano, Josh (BATES) 8-4
Order of Finish:
Doubles - 2, 3, 1
Singles - 3, 5, 6, 4, 2, 1
Match Notes:
Williams 11-3 (NESCAC 4-2), nationally ranked #9, regionally ranked #3 (Northeast)
Bates 6-9 (NESCAC 2-5), nationally ranked #24, regionally ranked #10 (Northeast)
