ROCKY MOUNT, NC—The Williams men’s tennis team (0-2) fell in a tight 5-4 match against the North Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishops (7-1) on Thursday. The Ephs competed well throughout the day, but came up just short in a tough atmosphere.
“North Carolina Wesleyan was a very good team with lots of energy,” said head coach Dan Greenberg.
That energy paid off early for the Bishops, who won all three doubles matches to start the afternoon. Dicken Chaplin ’12 and Jeremy Weinberger ’10 had opportunities to pull out a win at number three doubles, but in the end the Bishops took the match by winning the tiebreak 7-4.
“They had some very aggressive doubles play,” Greenberg noted. “But even so, the match could’ve gone either way. We had chances to win the number three doubles, and all the singles matches came down to the wire.”
Although the team was disappointed with the loss, the day provided many positives for Greenberg to focus on. “Our intensity was good, and I’m especially proud of the way we competed,” he said. “It was a big step up from our Georgetown match last Saturday. We fought much better.”
As the Ephs continue to improve, they will seek their first victory of the season next Tuesday when they take on Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The Emory Eagles are currently ranked 3rd in the nation.
COMPLETE RESULTS:
North Carolina Wesleyan def. Williams College 5-4
Doubles:
1) Filonov, Saari (NCW) def. Lebedoff, Shallcross (Williams) 8-4
2) Prata, Prostak (NCW) def. Petrie, Chow (Williams) 8-5
3) Sonn, Rumyantsev (NCW) def. Chaplin, Weinberger (Williams) 9-8(4)
Singles:
1) A. Saari (NCW) def. N. Lebedoff (Williams) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
2) J. Weinberger (Williams) def. K. Nikunen (NCW) 7-6 (6), 6-3
3) F. Sun (Williams) def. A. Rumyantsev (NCW) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
4) W. Petrie (Williams) def. F. Lemongo (NCW) 6-4, 6-3
5) A. Prostak (NCW) def. K. Shallcross (Williams) 6-4, 7-5
6) B. Chow (Williams) def. C. Sonn. (NCW) 7-6 (4), 7-5
Exhibition
Z. Weiss (Williams) DNF 4-5
J. Mehta (Williams) Win 8-2
A. Binder (Williams) Win 8-4
