Amherst stuns Ephs, 5-4, in opening round of NESCAC tournament

MIDDLEBURY, VT. – Despite men’s tennis defeating Amherst by a 6-3 margin in the regular season on April 5, history has proven that the past can mean very little in competition between these two schools. 

Anything is possible when Williams and Amherst face off, and in an unlikely scenario the fourth-ranked, and third-seeded, Ephs saw a bid for their first conference title since 2003 slip out of their hands in a 5-4 loss to the sixth-seeded Lord Jeffs.

The marathon match moved inside due to darkness with the match knotted at 4-4.  At court five, Williams junior Karol Furmaga battled Amherst’s Sean Doerfler.  Furmaga rebounded from an opening set deficit to take the second set, 7-5, but the match came down to the wire in a third set tiebreak.  Doerfler dominated the tiebreak to tally the fifth point needed to advance to the semifinals tomorrow, 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(1). 

The Lord Jeffs took a 2-1 lead in doubles play, and added to their lead upon taking the first singles match.  Williams came from behind to win the next two singles matches to tie the overall match at 3-3.  At court three, Gary Simonette fell to give Amherst a 4-3 advantage before Nick Lebedoff put away his opponent at court two to force a deciding match at court five.   

Amherst will face off against the host school, Middlebury, in the NESCAC semifinals tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.  Middlebury is seeded second, and received a first round bye. 

Fourth-seeded Bowdoin advanced to the other semifinal match in a 5-0 win over fifth-seeded Bates, and will take on top-seeded Trinity at 1:30 p.m.  The championship match will take place on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Amherst 5, Williams 4

Doubles


1 - Zach Lerner/Dan Kim (Amherst) def. Dan Greenberg/Bret Thatcher (Williams) – 8-4


2 - Gary Simonette/Nick Lebedoff (Williams) def. Moritz Koenig/Geoff Schwartz (Amherst) – 8-5


3 - Tal Avrahami/Michael Mintz (Amherst) def. Jeremy Weinberger/Rick Devlin (Williams) – 9-7

Singles


1 - Zach Lerner (Amherst) def. Daniel Greenberg (Williams) – 6-3, 6-0


2 - Nick Lebedoff (Williams) def. Michael Mintz (Amherst) – 6-4, 6-4


3 - Jeff Wan (Amherst) def. Gary Simonette (Williams) – 7-5, 6-3


4 - Jeremy Weinberger (Willia ms) def. Dan Kim (Am herst) – 6-1, 6-1


5 - Sean Doerfler (Amherst) def. Karol Furmaga (Williams) – 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (1)


6 - Rick Devlin (Williams) def. Geoff Schwartz (Amherst) – 6-3, 6-0