Ephs move past U Mass Dartmouth, 5-0
Bret Thacher '09
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. – Regional host Williams College (13-5) advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament over University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (13-2). The Corsairs won their first match in NCAA tournament history yesterday versus Neumann College, but eighth-ranked Williams cut their run short with a 5-0 win this afternoon.
“I give U Mass a lot of credit,” said Williams’ head coach Dave Donn. “Congratulations to them on a great season.”
Williams had the advantage from the get go, sweeping all three doubles matches. Jeremy Weinberger and Kevin Shallcross finished off their opponents, 8-3, while Dicken Chaplin and Bret Thacher teamed up at court one to defeat their Corsair counterparts, 8-5. Nick Lebedoff and Will Petrie rounded out the 3-0 lead with an 8-6 win at court two.
Singles play was short-lived as the two freshman from Williams, Will Petrie and Kevin Shallcross, put forth dominant efforts at courts four and five. Neither player lost a single game, taking their matches 6-0, 6-0. Shallcross finished first over Ken Sims, while Petrie sealed the deal for the Ephs a few minutes later over Zach Engstrom.
“I expect us to play every point like we are down match point,” continued Donn. “We need to bring intensity and focus to each match, all nine spots need to be focused for us to be successful in the rest of the tournament.”
The Ephs look to continue their success tomorrow against the winner of the Bowdoin/Vassar match up at 3:00.
Williams 5, U Mass Dartmouth 0
Doubles-
1) Chaplin/Thatcher (W) def. Pandolfi/Rathlev (UMD) --- 8-5
2) Petrie/Lebedoff (W) def. Viau/Forster (UMD) --- 8-6
3) Weinberger/Shallcross (W) def. Sims/Brian Lui (UMD) --- 8-3
Singles-
1) Nick Lebedoff (W) led Mason Viau (UMD) --- 6-0, 2-1
2) Jeremy Weinberger (W) led Troy Pandolfi (UMD) --- 6-4, 2-2
3) Rick Devlin (W) led Karsten Rathlev (UMD) --- 6-2
4) Will Petrie (W) def. Zach Engstrom (UMD) --- 6-0, 6-0
5) Kevin Shallcross (W) def. Ken Sims (UMD) --- 6-0, 6-0
6)
Karol Furmaga (W) led Christoph Forster (UMD) --- 6-1, 3-1
