Men's tennis picked up two wins this week, soundly defeating Brandeis 7-0 on Tuesday night. The Bears squeaked by Amherst 4-3 over the weekend.
Against Amherst, their first NESCAC match of the season, the Polar Bears grabbed the crucial doubles point with decisive wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
In the singles, every match was close with four out of six matches going to three sets.
Junior co-captain Sam Bitetti put forth a gritty effort at No. 1-singles spot, defeating top-ranked Josh Rilla in straight sets. Other notable performances included first-year Alex White's three-set victory over Amherst's Michael Mintz at No. 3 singles. Sophomore Noah Buntman had a close three-set battle with Amherst sophomore Jeff Wan, but he came up short in a third-set tiebreaker.
But the day's honors undoubtedly went to sophomore Garrett Gates, who outsmarted, outplayed, and out-hustled his opponent at No. 2 singles.
Gates clashed with junior Lenny Lepner, an amazingly consistent shot maker with a gift for wearing opponents down. Though Gates dropped the first set 6-3, he was undeterred in his effort to beat Lepner at his own game?one of counter punching and long rallies. After winning the second set in a tiebreaker, Gates was unequivocally in control, dictating points with penetrating ground strokes and volleys.
With the team score knotted at three, Gates and Lepner tied with five games apiece in the third set. Gates played solid tennis, coming to net on several occasions against Lepner's serve. Serving for the match at 6-5 and up 40-love, Gates slammed an ace to give Bowdoin the 4-3 victory. Interestingly, it was Gates who provided the winning team point when the two teams met last year. Down 6-3 in a third set tiebreaker to Michael Mintz, Gates stormed back to take the match for Bowdoin.
On Sunday, the Polar Bears took on Trinity in Hartford in a battle between NESCAC powerhouses. Though there were significant individual victories for the Polar Bears, including a victory over the third-ranked doubles team in the Northeast, courtesy of Bitetti and Gates, Bowdoin failed to test Trinity and fell 6-1.
Playing their third match in four days, the Bears squared off with Brandeis on Tuesday night. Due to rain, play was forced indoors onto the slow-playing courts in Farley.
Bowdoin was fired up and took the doubles point, winning at first and third doubles. Despite three three-set matches, Brandeis never seemed to be in contention. Bowdoin easily took all the singles matches for a final tally of 7-0.
The squad moves to 3-3 against Division III opponents, and plays NESCAC rivals Tufts and Middlebury this weekend. Both matches are away.