Hanover, NH – The Ephs boarded the van for a trip to Hanover, NH, on Sunday morning to face off against the DI Dartmouth Big Green. After a long offseason of training and practice matches, the Ephs were ready to compete against a top 60 team in the Division 1 ITA rankings. The Ephs knew it would be a battle and were prepared to leave everything on the court.
Right away, the Ephs came out firing in doubles, showing that their hard work was paying off. All three courts went toe-to-toe with Dartmouth's best pairs.
Robert Cooper Jr. and
Leon Liu stayed composed in their first match as a pair at Williams, and their chemistry was evident, having played together in junior tournaments. They won all three deuce points and held every service game, executing textbook plays to finish points at the net. On match point, a deuce point, Cooper Jr. cracked a 131 MPH serve, setting up Liu for an easy volley to clinch the win. Meanwhile,
Simon Volkema and
Andrew Chong fought back from a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 with a strong return game but ultimately fell 6-4. That left the deciding match on Court 1, where
Shawn Berdia and
Nicholas Chen traded holds with their opponents before forcing a tiebreak. With some clutch serving, aggressive returning, and signature Berdia specials, the duo dominated the tiebreak 7-3, securing the doubles point for the Ephs.
Despite the early momentum, the Ephs faced a battle-hardened Dartmouth lineup in singles. Berdia pushed his opponent in a tight first set,
Jack Ling, in his first collegiate match, stayed level at 5-5 before a late break, and Chong and Liu showcased aggressive shot-making. However, Dartmouth proved too steady across the board, sweeping all six singles matches to take the overall win.
While the result wasn't in their favor, the Ephs gained valuable experience in their first match of the season. "This was a great opening match for us and a high level of tennis to see early on," said Eph head coach
Dan Greenberg. "We were solid in doubles, but Dartmouth responded well in singles, so we have a good idea of what we need to focus on going into practice this week."
The Ephs will look to build on this experience with a strong week of practice before hosting Amherst and Hamilton on March 8th and 9th in their first NESCAC matches of the year.
Doubles:
- Chen/Berdia (WIL) def. Onuma/Qadir (DART) 7-6 (3)
- Bao/Groom (DART) def. Chong/Volkema (WIL) 6-4
- Cooper Jr./Liu (DART) def. Guerrero Alvarez/Takeda (DART) 6-3
Singles:
- Ren (DART) def. Chen (WIL) 6-1 6-0
- Guerrero Alvarez (DART) def. Berdia (WIL) 7-5 6-1
- Takeda (DART) def. Volkema (WIL) 6-2 6-3
- Groom (DART) def. Liu (WIL) 6-1 6-3
- Bao (DART) def. Chong (WIL) 6-2 6-3
- Yuan (DART) def. Ling (WIL) 7-5 6-1
