Jeffs Advance to NESCAC Semifinals with 5-2 Win Over Trinity

By Alex Kantor

April 27, 2007

SOUTH HADLEY, MA – The fifth-seeded Amherst College men’s tennis team completed its quarterfinal round upset of fourth-seeded Trinity College this morning in the 2007 NESCAC Tournament. Amherst took a 5-2 victory over the Bantams, with two singles matches cut short with the Jeffs leading in both, and having sealed the team win.

The Lord Jeffs avenged an April 10, 2007 6-3 loss to the Bantams with a satisfying conference tournament win. Trinity held a 2-1 advantage after the doubles portion of the match by taking both the #1 and #3 matches.

Amherst responded in dominant fashion in the singles competition, with sophomore Zack Lerner (Scarsdale, NY) and senior co-captain Karti Subramanian (Bethesda, MD) taking straight-set victories in the #1 and #5 spots, respectively.

Amherst got three-set victories from juniors Mike Mintz (New York, NY) and Geoff Schwartz (Dallas, TX). Junior Jeff Wan (Staten Island, NY) and first-year Daniel Kim (Springfield, MO) were both leading in the third set of their respective matches when Amherst clinched the win.

Trinity senior co-captain and top-player Brian Marsden (Hingham, MA) played his final collegiate match this afternoon, winning just his doubles bout. The senior closes a successful career at Trinity alongside classmates Williams Leonard (San Francisco, CA) and Jonathan McLeman (Vancouver, WA).

Amherst advances to the semifinal round with the win, and will face top-seeded Middlebury College tomorrow at 9 a.m. at Amherst. Should poor weather conditions force the match indoors, play will begin at 8 a.m. at Mt. Holyoke College.

2007 NESCAC Championship Tournament – Friday, April 27, 2007 - #5 Amherst vs. #4 Trinity

Doubles                  
1) Yahng/Samarth (T) def. Lerner/Avrahami (A) 8-5
2) Schwartz/Wan (A) def. Ramsay/Dolan (T) 8-5
3) Marsden/White (T) def. Subramanian/Mintz (A) 8-6

Singles
1) Zack Lerner (A) def. Brian Marsden (T) 6-2, 6-2
2) Mike Mintz (A) def. Brett Ramsay (T) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
3) Geoff Schwartz (A) def. Tom Dolan(T) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1
4) Jeff Wan (A) def. David Yahng (T)  6-7, 7-5, 1-0 (DNF)
5) Karti Subramanian (A) def. Nicholas White (T) 6-1, 6-4
6) Daniel Kim (A) def. Gautam Samarth (T) 5-7, 6-3, 2-1 (DNF)

Final Score: Amherst 5; Trinity 2