Score: Alfred University 6, Elmira College 3
Records: Alfred (2-7, 2-2 E8), Elmira (2-6, 2-3 E8)
Location: St. Bonaventure Tennis Center – Olean, N.Y.
 
OLEAN, N.Y. -- Patrick Tracey '18 continued his phenomenal senior campaign this evening with a pair of wins, but none bigger than his victory in singles, as the Bardonia, New York, native tied Elmira College's all-time singles win record with 37 career triumphs. Despite Tracey's wins, the EC men's tennis team dropped a 6-3 decision on the road to Alfred University.
 
Tracey teamed up with Stephen Gervase '20 for a hard-fought 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles against Alfred's Kevin Volz and Mike Wisniewski. The win helped EC's top doubles duo improve to 5-3 on the year and 4-1 in their last five matches. Although EC claimed a doubles win at the top position, Alfred marched into the singles portion of today's match with a 2-1 lead thanks to 8-4 and 8-3 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, respectively.
 
Alfred increased its lead to 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles, however, Tracey pulled Elmira back into the match with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 victory at the top position. The win by Tracey was just the latest in a string of victories for the senior, who has rattled off eight straight singles wins to open the 2018 campaign.
 
From there, the Saxons went on to claim straight-set wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to officially clinch today's win, and added an insurance victory at the No. 6 spot. However, Elmira received an inspiring effort from rookie Zackarie Stedge '21 at the fifth spot in the singles lineup to close out today's action.
 
After dropping the first set 1-6, Stedge rallied for a 6-4 second-set win it and force a third. With the match already decided, Stedge played a 10-point super tiebreaker to decide the winner of the match, and the outcome could not have been better for the local Horseheads, New York, native, who edged his opponent 12-10 in the breaker to clinch his third win of the year.
 
News and Notes

• Tracey tied Gabe Cortes '11 for Elmira's all-time singles win record (37).
• Tracey also increased his combined career win total to 61, making him just the third player in program history to reach the 60-win plateau.
• Tracey improved his singles mark this season to 8-0, including a 5-0 mark against E8 opposition.
• Gervase and Tracey improved to 5-3 in doubles action and are 4-1 in their last five matches.
• Stedge improved to 3-5 in singles action this season.

 
Up Next
Elmira will have a short turnaround, as the Soaring Eagles host the No. 39-ranked Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology in Empire 8 action tomorrow morning. The opening serve is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. at EC's Murray Athletic Center.