Box Score

Olean, NY -- The Elmira College men's tennis team continued their late-season surge, defeating Alfred University 7-2 for their second win in as many days. Despite a mid-season swoon that saw the Soaring Eagles drop three Empire 8 Conference matches in a row, EC's win over the Saxons improves Elmira's conference record to 3-4 and puts the men in a position to potentially qualify for the Empire 8 Tournament.
 
For the second match in a row, the Soaring Eagles got off to a strong start, sweeping the three doubles matches. EC's first doubles team of Keith Bujak '15 and Sam Pine '14 withstood a tough test from Alfred's first doubles team of Connor Doud and Stefan Nonnenmann, but prevailed 8-5. Satchal Waters '16 and Austin Mansell '16 took care of business at second doubles, winning 8-3, and Pavle Vashakidze '16 and Scott Ferron '16 completed the sweep with an 8-4 win at third doubles.
 
EC's success continued in singles play as the Purple and Gold won four of the six singles matches. Bujak remained on-serve in the first set with Peter Benoit, but a late break gave Bujak the 7-5 win in set number one. The junior then won the second set 6-3 to close out the straight set victory at second singles. Pine found himself in a close match at third singles with Michael Graham, as the duo split the first two sets. With the match still in limbo, Pine and Graham were forced to play the third set to its entirety. It was a closely contested battle throughout the final set, but Pine would come out on top, 7-5, for the important victory. 
 
Cruising to his eighth singles victory of the season was Waters, who gave up just four games en route to the 6-1, 6-3 win. Ferron notched EC's final victory of the afternoon at sixth singles, but similar to Pine, his match also went to a third set. Ferron dropped the first set 6-4, but rallied to take set number two, 6-2. With the match already decided, Ferron and his opponent played a 10 point tiebreaker in lieu of a full third set in which the sophomore pulled out the tight, 10-8 win.
 
With this important win under their belts, the Soaring Eagles will turn their attention to the conference match between Nazareth College and Alfred University scheduled for Tuesday, April 29th. A win by Alfred would create a three-way tie for fourth place between EC, the Saxons, and the Golden Flyers, and depending on the tiebreaker scenarios, could push the Purple and Gold into the Empire 8 Tournament for the first time since 2007.
 
EC cannot focus too much on those scenarios as they do have one match remaining in their 2014 regular season, a non-conference matchup at Oswego State scheduled for Wednesday, April 30th at 4:00 p.m. 

Singles Competition
1. Connor Doud (ALFRED) def. Pavle Vashakidze (ECMT) 6-2, 6-0
2. Keith Bujak (ECMT) def. Peter Benoit (ALFRED) 7-5, 6-3
3. Sam Pine (ECMT) def. Michael Graham (ALFRED) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5
4. Stefan Nonnenmann (ALFRED) def. Austin Mansell (ECMT) 6-3, 7-5
5. Satchal Waters (ECMT) def. Evan Haskins (ALFRED) 6-1, 6-3
6. Scott Ferron (ECMT) def. Eric Teller (ALFRED) 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8)

Doubles Competition
1. Bujak/Pine (ECMT) def. Doud/Nonnenmann (ALFRED) 8-5
2. Waters/Mansell (ECMT) def. Benoit/Graham (ALFRED) 8-3
3. Vashakidze/Ferron (ECMT) def. Teller/Patrick Brown (ALFRED) 8-4