May 2, 2010

Ephs fall to #1 Middlebury in final regular season match

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. – Although the 8-1 final score might indicate otherwise, Williams men’s tennis battled in a difficult loss to #1 Middlebury (16-2, 8-0) in their final regular season contest. Despite falling into an early 3-0 hole after doubles play, the Ephs brought some of their best doubles tennis to their toughest match up of the year.

“It was really tough to go down 3-0 in doubles,” said Williams head coach Dan Greenberg. “That is always a bad situation, but none of the matches were blowouts and the whole entire doubles play took an hour and a half. It would have been nice to get number three doubles though.”

Nick Lebedoff and Kevin Shallcross dropped their match first at court one in an 8-3 loss, while Dicken Chaplin and Bryan Chow could not overcome their Middlebury opponents in an 8-4 loss at court one.

At court three, Felix Sun and Trey Meyer had won nine straight matches coming into this afternoon. The match was a back and forth affair early on and on serve at 7-8, the freshman pair went down three match points but battled back to deuce with three well-fought points. Williams would lose the next two points though, and Sun and Meyer suffered their first defeat as a pair.

“Even going down 3-0 in doubles, everyone fought really well in their singles matches. Nobody played as if we didn’t have a chance,” said Greenberg.

Although the final doubles tally was disappointing, the Ephs moved on to singles play. Meyer was the only Eph to tally a win, defeating his opponent at court six by a 6-2, 6-3 score. Felix Sun moved up to court one, and despite being ill for the past few days, he dueled with Andrew Peters of Middlebury. After going up an early break, Sun lost the first set. He came back to take the second, but lost in a third set breaker, 10-4.

Zach Weiss also battled with some sickness during his match as well, but fell at court five, 6-4, 6-4. Lebedoff, Weinberger, and Chow also fell in straight sets at courts two, three, and four, respectively.

Williams will brush off the loss as they look to postseason play. The Ephs will play in the first round of the NESCAC tournament on Friday.

Middlebury 8, Williams 1

Doubles:

1) Andrew Lee/Andrew Thomson (M) def. Dicken Chaplin/Bryan Chow (W) --- 8-4

2) Eliot Jia/Conrad Olsen (M) def. Nick Lebedoff/Kevin Shallcross (W) --- 8-3

3) Chris Mason/Andrew Peters (M) def. Felix Sun/Trey Meyer --- 9-7

Singles:

1) Peters (M) def. Sun (W) --- 6-4, 3-6, 10-4

2) Lee (M) def. Lebedoff (W) --- 6-2, 6-3

3) Thomson (M) def. Weinberger (W) --- 6-2, 6-2

4) Peter Odell (M) def. Chow (W) --- 6-3, 7-5

5) Jia (M) def. Zach Weiss (W) --- 6-4, 6-4

6) Meyer (W) def. Derrick Angle (M) --- 6-2, 6-3