Williams Moves Past Colby in First Round of Men's Tennis Championship, 5-0

Courtesy Amherst Sports Information

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - Williams moved past Colby on Friday afternoon 5-0 in first round play of the 2007 NESCAC Men's Tennis Championship. Following the opening match of the tournament, the two teams squared off indoors at Mt. Holyoke College. The indoor facility was the alternative site for host Amherst College after poor weather conditions forced day one inside.

Despite being conference colleagues, the Ephs and Mules had not faced one another during the 2006-07 season. Williams took a commanding lead over its unfamiliar opponent after the doubles portion of the match, winning all three pairings for a 3-0 lead heading into singles.

When singles started, Williams picked up right where they left off, quickly grabbing wins from junior Gary Simonette (Finksburg, Md.) and sophomore Rick Devlin (Westford, Mass.) to close out the win 5-0, with four players being cut short.

Williams improves to 13-5 overall this season, while Colby drops to 8-7 to end the year. The Ephs advance to the semifinal round of competition, and will face second-seed Bowdoin College tomorrow. If poor weather conditions continue tomorrow, the Williams-Bowdoin match will begin indoors at Mt. Holyoke, immediately following the 8 a.m. Amherst-Middlebury match.

No. 3 Williams 5, vs. No. 6 Colby 0
12:00 p.m. at Mt. Holyoke College

Doubles                  
1 - Dan Greenberg/Bret Thacher (Williams) def. Brody Saunders/Zack Schuman (Colby) 8-4
2 - Gary Simonette/Nick Lebedoff (Williams) def. Tim Fuhrman/Alex Chin (Colby) 8-4
3 - Jeremy Weinberger/Ted Haley (Williams) Tom Gildersleeve/Nick Rosen-Wachs (Colby) 8-3 

Singles
1 - Ted Haley (Williams) vs. Brody Saunders (Colby) 6-4, 5-2 (DNF)
2 - Dan Greenberg (Williams) vs. Brian Brown (Colby) 6-0, 4-3 (DNF)
3 - Nick Lebedoff (Williams) vs. Zack Schuman (Colby) 6-3, 1-0 (DNF)
4 - Gary Simonette (Williams) def. Tim Fuhrman (Colby) 6-0, 6-0
5 - Karol Furmaga (Williams) vs. Alex Chin (Colby) 7-5, 2-1 (DNF)
6 - Rick Devlin (Williams) def. Tom Gildersleeve (Colby) 6-2, 6-0