Recap courtesy of Amherst College
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| Boris Sorkin won his #1 singles match over Amherst's Sean Wei. |
AMHERST - Ninth-ranked Amherst College took a 2-1 lead in doubles and matched singles victories with #17 Tufts University before recording wins in the last two matches of the day to secure a 6-3 win over the Jumbos in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's tennis play on Saturday afternoon at Amherst Tennis Courts.
Freshman William Turchetta clinched the victory with a three-set win over Tufts sophomore Carl-Herman Grant (6-2, 6-7, 6-2), increasing the score to 5-3 in favor of the Mammoths. Turchetta battled back to win the third set 6-2, matching his first set winning score, after Grant had tied the fifth-singles match with a 7-6 second-set win.
Sophomore Sean Wei and junior Jayson Fung got the Mammoths off to a good start with an 8-3 win over sophomore Boris Sorkin and junior Nathan Niemiec at first doubles which gave Amherst a 2-0 lead. Tufts sophomore Niko Hereford and junior co-captain Ethan Bershtein scored an 8-5 victory over Kevin Ma and Damien Ruparel in #3 doubles making the team score 2-1 heading into singles.
Sorkin, the #1-ranked player in the country in singles, got the best of Wei, #18 in the nation, with a 6-3, 6-4 win at first singles tying the match at 2-2. Senior Zach Bessette would score a straight-set win (6-1, 6-3) over Tufts' Ben Biswas at the fourth spot, and freshman Harris Foulkes handled Owen Bartok in straight 6-4 sets at #6 giving the hosts a 4-2 advantage. Freshman Isaac Gorelik kept Tufts within striking distance with a 7-5, 6-4 third-singles victory over Fung, but Turchetta would soon clinch it for the Mammoths.
Ma finished things off by holding off Jumob freshman Paris Pentousis 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 at the #2 singles spot.
Amherst has a week off to prepare for another conference match, next Saturday at Colby, with first serves set for 10:00 am in Waterville, Maine. The Jumbos play tomorrow at home against Wesleyan at 10:00 am.
