Amherst Upends Trinity in First Round of Men's Tennis Championship, 5-2

Courtesy Amherst Sports Information

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - Amherst upended Trinity in the first match of the 2007 NESCAC Men's Tennis Championship on Friday morning, as the Lord Jeffs earned a 5-2 victory over the Bantams.

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, N.Y.) and senior co-captain Karti Subramanian (Bethesda, Md.) taking straight set victories in the one and five spots, respectively. 

Amherst got three-set victories from juniors Mike Mintz (New York, N.Y.) and Geoff Schwartz (Dallas, Texas). Junior Jeff Wan (Staten Island, N.Y.) and first-year Daniel Kim (Springfield, Mo.) were both leading in the third set when Amherst clinched the win. 

Trinity senior co-captain and top-player Brian Marsden (Hingham, Mass.) 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, Calif.) and Jonathan McLeman (Vancouver, Wash.). 

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

No. 5 Amherst 5, vs. No. 4 Trinity 2
8:00 a.m. at Mt. Holyoke College

Doubles                  
1 - David Yahng/Gautam Samarth (Trinity) def. Zack Lerner/Tal Avrahami (Amherst) 8-5
2 - Geoff Schwartz/Jeff Wan (Amherst) def. Brett Ramsay/Tom Dolan (Trinity) 8-5
3 - Brian Marsden/Nicholas White (Trinity) def. Karti Subramanian/Mike Mintz (Amherst) 8-6 

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