Score: Elmira College 9 – Utica College 0
Records: Elmira (7-5, 2-2 E8), Utica (1-5, 0-4 E8)
Location: Utica Tennis Courts – Utica, N.Y.
UTICA, N.Y. -- Elmira College men's tennis leveled its record within the Empire 8 Conference with a one-sided 9-0 victory on the road against Utica College this afternoon. The Soaring Eagles improved to 7-5 overall on the season and 2-2 in league play.
Elmira began today's conference tilt with a pair of 8-0 wins by
Theo Tran '20 and
Patrick Tracey '18 at first doubles and
Anthony Colavito '20 and
Yaniv Kogan '18 at third doubles. EC's second doubles tandem of
Chris Konow '18 and
Stephen Gervase '20 had to work a bit harder for their win, as the two former high school teammates edged the Pioneers by a single break of serve, 8-6, to give the Purple and Gold a 3-0 lead heading into singles play.
In single action, Tracey was the first Soaring Eagle to finish his match, as the third-year talent throttled his counterpart from Utica at the third spot, 6-0, 6-0. It marked the fourth consecutive singles victory for the Bardonia, New York, native, as well as his eighth in the team's last nine matches. Along with his 8-0 win at first doubles, Tracey was the only player to win in all 20 games he played in this afternoon.
Tracey's doubles partner, Tran, clinched today's victory for the Soaring Eagles with a no-nonsense 6-2, 6-0 win at the top singles position. The rookie netter is 4-1 in his last five singles matches, however this afternoon's win was his first against a conference opponent.
Jordan Curtis '19 made it a 6-0 Elmira lead as he topped his opponent at the No. 6 position by scores of 6-1, 6-4. The sophomore is now 5-2 in his last seven singles contests and 2-2 within conference play.
The day's most competitive singles match took place on court two this evening, as Elmira's Colavito took down Utica's Garrett Naoke at the No. 2 spot. Colavito eked out a tightly contested opening set by a single break, 6-4, before breaking Naoke twice in the second set for a 6-4, 6-2 win. The win for Colavito snapped a four-match singles losing streak, two of which went the distance to a third set.
The final two matches of this evening's contest featured Elmira's Konow and Kogan at the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Konow conceded four games en route to a 6-2, 6-2 win, while Kogan dropped just three games for a 6-1, 6-2 victory. The win for Konow ended a two-match singles skid and also went down as his first E8 win of the year. Kogan, on the other hand, improved to 6-3 in his last nine singles matches.
In His Own Words…
Head Coach
Tom Linhart on Elmira's play this afternoon…
"I was happy with the way the guys came out today and just took care of business. We started off strong in doubles and carried that over into the singles matches, which was nice to see."
Coach Linhart on EC leveling its conference record…
"Any time you can get a conference win, you'll take it. The rest of the season and the E8 tournament field are going to be played out over the next two weeks, so getting a win today will hopefully pay off down the stretch when we make that postseason push."
Scores
Singles
1.
Theo Tran (ELMIRA) def. Christopher Dunn (UTICA) 6-2, 6-0
2.
Anthony Colavito (ELMIRA) def. Garrett Noake (UTICA) 6-4, 6-2
3.
Patrick Tracey (ELMIRA) def. Paul Litvak (UTICA) 6-0, 6-0
4.
Chris Konow (ELMIRA) def. Luc Boby (UTICA) 6-2, 6-2
5.
Yaniv Kogan (ELMIRA) def. Alex Roberts (UTICA) 6-1, 6-2
6.
Jordan Curtis (ELMIRA) def. Patrick Restuccio (UTICA) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
1. Tran/Tracey (ELMIRA) def. Dunn/Litvak (UTICA) 8-0
2. Gervase/Konow (ELMIRA) def. Noake/Boby (UTICA) 8-6
3. Kogan/Colavito (ELMIRA) def. Whitehurst/Diller (UTICA) 8-0
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2) Singles (3,1,6,2,4,5)
News and Notes
- Elmira earned its seventh win of the year and evened its conference record at 2-2.
- The Soaring Eagles improved to 4-1 in road contests in 2016-17, including a perfect 4-0 mark this spring.
- The four road wins are the most Elmira has recorded in one season in over 17 years.
- Today's win marked the fifth consecutive season the Soaring Eagles have won at least seven matches.
- EC is 7-2 in its last nine matches.
- Colavito moved into a six-way tie for third place in EC history for single-season doubles wins (9).
- Tracey slid into a four-way tie for sixth place in program history for single-season total wins (17).
- Konow moved into a two-way tie for third place in program history for career doubles wins (25).
- Kogan is now fifth all-time for career doubles victories (23).
- Kogan also moved into sole possession of fourth place in EC history for career total wins (47).
- Konow is sixth all-time in career total wins (45), while Tracey bumped up to seventh (44).
Up Next
Elmira returns to action this Wednesday, April 19, when the Soaring Eagles host Alfred University. The Empire 8 bout is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. at EC's Murray Athletic Center.
