|
| Zach Shaff clinched the Tufts victory with a win at No. 4 singles |
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The #15 Tufts University men's tennis team earned its second consecutive 6-3 victory over a ranked opponent on Sunday afternoon, taking down #27 Skidmore College at the Wenger Tennis Courts in Saratoga Springs. The victory put the Jumbos at 2-1 for the weekend and 9-5 on the spring season.
The two teams split a pair of tight matches in doubles play before Tufts took a 2-1 advantage after a back and forth contest at No. 2. Ethan Bershtein and Ben Biswas put the Jumbos on the board at No. 3 with an 8-6 win over Thoroughbreds pair Jack McClaren and Jason Keye. Skidmore responded at No. 1 with an 8-6 victory of their own, as Steven Koulouris and JT Wynne knocked off Boris Sorkin and Carl-Herman Grant.
Nathan Niemiec and Zach Shaff earned a hard-fought 9-8 win at No. 2 over Travis Leaf and Suraj Mahtani, giving Tufts a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.
The Jumbos won the first four singles matches, clinching the win before Skidmore took the final two contests. Sorkin disposed of Koulouris at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-2. Biswas earned his second victory of the day and fourth in two days with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6. Shaff topped McClaren 7-6, 6-1 at No. 4, locking up the win for Tufts.
Grant bounced back from an earlier defeat to beat Leaf in a match that needed three sets to decide, 6-3, 2-6, 11-9. Skidmore's Ted Berkowitz split the first two sets with Tufts co-captain Danny Coran at No. 5, 1-6, 6-3, before Coran was forced to retire. Wynne earned the third Thoroughbreds win of the afternoon in a lengthy affair at No. 2 that also went to a third set, 7-5, 6-4, 14-12.
The Jumbos wrap up their regular-season with a pair of home contests against NESCAC opponents next weekend, with the first being played Saturday April 28, against #2 Bowdoin at 1:00 p.m. Skidmore moves on to Liberty League Championship action on May 5.
#
