LEWISTON, Maine —The Ephs set out on their second trip to Maine this season on Friday, as they made the long trek north and east to the campus of Bates College, the site of the 2016 NESCAC Tournament. With a stiff field of competition, the Ephs found themselves drawn against arch-rival, Amherst, in the quarterfinal round, looking to repeat their postseason performance from the 2015 NESCAC Tournament, as well as their regular-season showing this season, against the central-Massachusetts outfit. In spite of snatching two wins in their last two duals against the nationally fourteenth-ranked side, the Ephs could not extend their streak to three, as the sixth-seeded purple-and-white upset the third-seeded purple and gold, 5-2.
One of the keys to their last two victories against Amherst was undoubtedly emerging from the doubles portions with the advantage, something that Williams was unable to accomplish on Friday evening. Uncharacteristically, none of the three doubles matches were particularly close. The Ephs trailed 5-2 on Court 1 and Court 3, while flipping that scoreline in their favor on Court 2, and each team managed to capitalize on their respective advantages, culminating in 8-4 margins of victory on all three courts nearly simultaneously.
With the 2-1 lead going into singles, Amherst had a disappointing start to the second half of the dual, dropping sets on Court 2 and Court 4 to the Eph sophomores, Brian Grodecki and Sachin Raghavan respectively, as well as facing breaks on two other courts.
It was in that moment, however, that the well-oiled machine that won the 2014 NCAA Championship kicked into gear. Anton Zykov blasted past Jose Raventos in the first set on Court 1, inspiring his teammates Aaron Revzin and Jesse Levitin on Courts 3 and 6 to breaks and, ultimately, first sets of their own.
As the pendulum of momentum swung back toward Amherst, Grodecki leveled the overall score at two points apiece, finishing off Michael Solimano 6-2, 6-0.
That would be the last point the Ephs managed in the dual, however, as the Ephs saw their chance at a return trip to the NESCAC Finals slip away. Zykov, Revzin, and the Levitin all sufficiently fought off any late surges by the Ephs to get one over on their biggest rivals and book their spot in Saturday's NESCAC Semifinals against Bowdoin.
With the loss, the Ephs now must wait to see if they will get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament that will begin this coming Thursday.
Amherst 5, Williams 2
- Zykov, Anton (AMHERST) def. Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) 6-2, 6-2
- Grodecki, Brian (WILLIAMS) def. Solimano, Michael (AMHERST) 6-2, 6-0
- Revzin, Aaron (AMHERST) def. Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) 7-5, 6-4
- Bessette, Zach (AMHERST) v. Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) ~ DNF ~
- Fife, Ben (AMHERST) v. Indrakanti, Deepak (WILLIAMS) ~ DNF ~
- Levitin, Jesse (AMHERST) def. Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) 6-3, 7-6
- Revzin, Aaron/Solimano, Michael (AMHERST) def. Grodecki, Brian/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) 8-4
- Raventos, Jose/Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) def. Yaraghi, Andrew/Zykov, Anton (AMHERST) 8-4
- Bessette, Zach/Ben, Fife (AMHERST) def. Astrachan, Brian/Raghavan, Sachin (WILLIAMS) 8-4
Match Notes:
Amherst 15-8, nationally ranked #14, regionally ranked #6 (Northeast)
Williams 13-4, nationally ranked #9, regionally ranked #3 (Northeast)
