HARTFORD, Conn. — After their triumph on Saturday afternoon against intrastate rivals, Amherst, the Ephs traveled to Connecticut to face off against Trinity College for their final match before the NESCAC Tournament begins next week. With the opportunity to achieve their best regular-season record since their National Championship winning season in 2012/2013, the Ephs put out their strongest lineup against a Bantam side that has fallen somewhat flat since conference play began.
With rain pushing the two New England teams indoors, the Ephs quickly accomplished something that they couldn't yesterday against Amherst by creating some breathing room between themselves and their opponents, tallying points on all three doubles courts.
Jose Raventos and Jordan Sadowsky led the way for the Ephs, blitzing their Bantam counterparts on Court 2, 8-3, and inspiring their compatriots on Court 3 to follow suit with an 8-5 victory over their Bantam opponents only minutes later.
In an attempt to prevent succumbing to a three-point deficit after doubles, the top-seeded doubles team from the Bantams, consisting of Rex Glickman and Ford Traff, made a valiant effort fighting back from 5-2 down to pull level at 7-7, but then fell just short as the Eph partnership of Brian Grodecki and Alexander Schidlovsky held serve and then broke to clinch the third doubles point for the western-Massachusetts side.
As it was only possible to play three matches at a time, the top 3 players for each side took the courts, and things were looking on the up for the side from the Connecticut capitol, as Rex Glickman and Rutendo Matingo both won first sets against their respective opponents on Courts 1 and 2.
Following his 6-2 first set win, Glickman finished off Raventos in the second set, 6-3, to put the Bantams on the scoreboard.
Unlike his teammate, however, Matingo was unable to follow up his 6-4 first set victory with a win in the second set, as Grodecki found his form and fired off twelve of the next sixteen games against the Bay Stater to turn the tide and clinch the victory for the Ephs, after his teammate and co-captain, Schidlovsky, took care of business on Court 3 against Aaron Segel, 6-4, 7-5.
The Ephs were not done yet, however, as they cleaned up on the remaining three singles courts, as Raghavan, Deepak Indrakanti, and Sadowsky all notched victories for the purple and gold to round out the afternoon, 8-1.
After the match, Eph head coach Dan Greenberg praised his team's performance, especially in the context of looking toward the post-season starting next weekend: "I thought we were really solid today and improved on a few things from yesterday. Trinity is athletic and came up with some great shots, so to get through them indoors 8-1 was great. It's been a strong regular season and I think we're in a good place going into post-season play."
The NESCAC Tournament will be held next weekend on the campus of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where the Ephs will be one of eight teams who will compete for the 2016 NESCAC Championship and an automatic bid into the 2016 NCAA Tournament. More details to follow on the Ephs' schedule for next weekend.
Williams 8, Trinity 1
- Glickman, Rex (TRINITY) def. Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) 6-2, 6-3
- Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Matingo, Rutendo (TRINITY) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
- Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Segel, Aaron (TRINITY) 6-4, 7-5
- Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Boyd, William (TRINITY) 7-6(6), 6-1
- Indrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) def. Ferreyros, Carlos (TRINITY) 6-4, 6-2
- Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Skattum, Lars (TRINITY) 6-4, 6-2
- Grodecki, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Glickman, Rex/Traff, Ford (TRINITY) 9-7
- Raventos, Jose/Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Smith, Camden/Ferreyros, Carlos (TRINITY) 8-3
- Astrachan, Brian/Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) def. Matingo, Rutendo/Boyd, William (TRINITY) 8-5
Order of Finish:
Singles - 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6
Doubles - 1, 3, 2
Match Notes:
Williams 13-3 (NESCAC 6-2), nationally ranked #9, regionally ranked #3 (Northeast)
Trinity 8-7 (NESCAC 3-6), nationally ranked #27, regionally ranked #9 (Northeast)
