Men’s Tennis: #20 Shoremen Win Nail Biter
CHESTERTOWN, Md. - 20th-ranked Washington (Md.) College jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then held of a valiant Swarthmore comeback attempt to win 4-3 on Friday afternoon.
The Shoremen (13-3), ranked ninth in the Atlantic South region, won fierce battles at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles while cruising at No. 3 to earn the doubles' point.
Washington got out to the early 3-0 lead as Anantha Bhaskar downed Garnet senior Brian Park 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3 singles and Rafael Roldan got past Swarthmore junior Sam Sidhu 6-4, 6-4 at No. 6 singles.
Swarthmore sophomore Jon Lo put the Garnet (4-10) on the board with a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 4 singles over Mike Edison. Garnet junior Adam Wallwork followed suit at No. 5 with 7-5, 6-3 victory over Maciek Prytula.
The Shoremen were looking for some payback on this day; Swarthmore had eliminated Washington in the 2005 NCAA Team Championships 4-3, one of two Garnet victories over the Shoremen last season.
This match came down to the top four players on the court. Swarthmore's Jon Reiss '07, winner of seven straight matches coming into Friday, evened the match at 3-3 by winning No. 2 singles, holding off Washington's Tim Riskie 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
A battle was raging on between the No. 1s - Washington's Arturo Solis, the number one ranked player in the Atlantic South region, and Swarthmore's Zac Rodd, ranked fifth in the region. Rodd won the first set 6-4 but Solis fought back to even things up with a 6-4 win. Solis jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set when darkness forced the match indoors. Solis went up 5-2 in the eighth game of the third set and played two match points. Rodd, a left-hander, fought him off after five deuces to make it 5-3 and then got the jump 30-15 in the next game. Unfortunately for Swarthmore, Solis won the next three points, and the match for Washington.
The Garnet look to bounce back on Tuesday, April 18 welcoming Bates (ME) College to Faulkner Courts at 3:30 p.m.