NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's tennis team picked up a 5-4 victory over Bates College on Friday evening in a NESCAC showdown at Luce Field House.
The Camels took two out of three doubles points before splitting the six singles matches to earn their first NESCAC victory in nearly five years. With the match on the line,
Gavin Anderson (Avon, Conn.) secured the final point with a win over Ben Adey at No. 6 singles (2-6, 6-4, 6-4).
Conn got off to a solid start by winning at No. 2 and 3 doubles. The duo of
Jules Taylor-Kerman (New York, N.Y.) and
Sigmund Winiecki (Jaffrey, N.H.) made quick work of Matthew Danielson and Nicky Desai (8-1), and
James Serhant III (Hadley, Mass.) and
Walker Mulligan (Guilford, Conn.) took care of business against Adey and Evangelo Kapothanasis (8-4).
Bates claimed wins at the top three singles spots, but Conn fired back at the bottom positions. Taylor-Kerman and Mulligan both won in straight sets at No. 4 and 5, respectively, with the former besting Desai (6-4, 6-4) and the latter defeating Eli Criss (6-4, 6-2).
The match was decided at the final singles spot, where Anderson bounced back from a first-set loss to take the second. He then trailed 3-4 in the third set before ripping off three straight games to deliver match point for the Camels, setting off a wild celebration on the court.
Conn (8-3 overall, 1-3 NESCAC), which has now won seven straight games, will next play at Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday, April 3 at 3:00 p.m.
