Ephs comeback falls short against Claremont-McKenna, 5-2
LEWISTON, ME. – Sometimes you just dig a hole too deep. Men’s tennis displayed spirited singles play after losing all three doubles matches, but Williams fell just short of what could have been an incredible comeback win. With a berth to the Final Four at stake, both teams battled on the courts, but Claremont-McKenna came out the victor in a 5-2 result.
Rallying from a 2-1 deficit last weekend against The College of New Jersey in the Round of 16, Williams used dominating singles play to escape an early exit from the tournament. Doubles play has never been as consistent for the eighth-ranked Ephs as singles play, and today it showed against a talented Claremont team ranked second nationally.
The Ephs showed their tenacity once again this afternoon, and narrowed the overall match score to 3-2. Senior co-captain Gary Simonette led the surge and tallied the first Williams point at court three, taking a quick 6-2, 6-2 win over Mike Starr to spark an energy for his team as he has done all four years in his career at Williams.
At court four, Jeremy Weinberger lost the first set before obliterating his opponent in the final two sets, 6-1, 6-0. A brilliant comeback seemed in the making as both Nick Lebedoff and Rick Devlin, two tough and tested players, were on serve in the third sets of their matches at courts two and six respectively.
Karol Furmaga struggled at court five, and lost his match, 6-4, 6-4 to give Claremont-McKenna a 4-2 match lead. Senior co-captain Dan Greenberg displayed why he has been so successful as a leader of this team, keeping his head high and powering from behind to take a 6-2 second set after falling in the first, 3-6. In a battle with Lawrence Wang, Greenberg fought to the bitter end but lost the third set, 6-4. Claremont-McKenna clinched the fifth point at court one to head to the Final Four.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how we went down today,” said Williams’ head coach David Donn. “For a while there it looked we were going to come back, and that is a testament to the guys and this team. They never gave up.”
Williams finishes their season with a 17-4 record.
Claremont-McKenna 5, Williams 2
Doubles:
1) Guillaume Schils/Lawrence Wang (CMS) def. Bret Thacher/Dan Greenberg (W) --- 8-3
2) Ben Hough/Eric MacColl (CMS) def. Gary Simonette/Nick Lebedoff (W) --- 8-3
3) Ronald Wu/Mike Starr (CMS) def. Jeremy Weinberger/Rick Devlin (W) --- 8-5
Singles:
1) Lawrence Wang (CMS) def. Dan Greenberg (W) --- 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
2) Nick Lebedoff (W) led Eric MacColl (CMS) --- 4-6, 6-4, 1-0
3) Gary Simonette (W) def. Mike Starr (CMS) --- 6-2, 6-2
4) Jeremy Weinberger (W) def. Drew Sabater (CMS) --- 2-6, 6-1, 6-0
5) Russell Brocket (CMS) def. Karol Furmaga (W) --- 6-4, 6-4
6) Ben Hough (CMS) led Rick Devlin (W) --- 6-4, 4-6, 4-3
