BRUNSWICK, Maine - May 13, 2016 - The Colby-Sawyer men's tennis team was edged by Nichols, 5-4 in a marathon NCAA First Round match that took more than four and a half hours to complete.
The Chargers finish the season with a 15-6 record after appearing in their fourth straight NCAA Tournament. The Bison (20-5) advance to Saturday's second round against host Bowdoin College at noon.
Nichols won two of three doubles points to take an important 2-1 lead featuring two evenly matched sides. Mid-way through the action, the match had to be moved inside due to rain. James Smith and Igor Markowski opened the scoring for Nichols with an 8-2 win at No. 2 over
Dean Boodakian and
Ryan Sawyer.
Andrew Peloquin and
Gustav Jigrup evened the match at 1-1 with an 8-5 victory over Blake Norton and Aidan Stuart at the top doubles flight. In a tightly contested No. 3 doubles match, Bison duo Josh Halpern and Jake Zapatka outlasted
Ross Kenney and
Alex Wright.
Zapatka put the Bison in front 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 4 before Colby-Sawyer's
Alex Wright earned the first singles point for the Chargers with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the second flight. Nichols then went ahead 4-2 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory by Halpern at No. 3.
Facing elimination, Colby-Sawyer rallied, getting wins from
Ryan Broderick at No. 6 (6-3, 6-3) and a hard-fought win by
Ross Kenney (6-4, 3-6, 6-2) at No. 5, leaving the stage open for No. 1 singles to decide the match.
The top flight match went 3+ hours and was back and forth with long rallies throughout the afternoon. Colby-Sawyer's
Gustav Jigrup took the opening set against Blake Norton 6-4, but Norton rebounded to take the second set by a score of 6-4. Tied at five games apiece Norton won a marathon, injury-filled game to break a gritty effort by Jigrup and held serve to lift Nichols to the 5-4 win.
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Nichols 5, Colby-Sawyer College 4
05/13/16 at Brunswick, Maine (Pickard Courts)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Blake Norton (NC) def. Gustav Jigrup (CSCM1516) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 |
| 2. Alex Wright (CSCM1516) def. James Smith (NC) 6-1, 6-2 |
| 3. Josh Halpern (NC) def. Ryan Sawyer (CSCM1516) 6-1, 6-3 |
| 4. Jake Zapatka (NC) def. Dean Boodakian (CSCM1516) 6-1, 6-1 |
| 5. Ross Kenney (CSCM1516) def. Igor Markowski (NC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 |
| 6. Ryan Broderick (CSCM1516) def. Aidan Stuart (NC) 6-3, 6-3 |
| Match Notes |
| Colby-Sawyer College 15-6 |
| Nichols 20-4 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,2,3,6,5,1) |
| NCAA First Round |
| Official: Chris Burgess T-4:30 A-100 |
