Ephs Survive and Advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen

 
Brunswick, ME- The Ephs took on the RPI Engineers in the NCAA round of 32. The match was scheduled for outdoors but due to rain, it was delayed and eventually moved inside. The match started out poorly for the Ephs, as RPI broke early on courts 2 and 3. Court 1 traded holds early and kept the Ephs in contention for the doubles point. Ultimately though, the Engineers ran away with courts 2 and 3, and a return win on a big deuce point found RPI win all three matches. The Ephs were in an 0-3 hole for only the second time this season. Having never come back from 0-3 down in the Greenberg era, things were looking bleak for Williams after doubles. 
 
Singles however, was a different story. After a mere ten minutes of play into singles, it became abundantly clear that the Ephs were not backing down from this battle, and they went up breaks on courts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. On court 1,  Matt Kandel terrorized his opponent with his booming serve, running away with the first set 6-1. Leon Liu was locked in from the start, earning a 6-0 first set at number 5. Nicholas Chen and Simon Volkema were the next two to win their first sets, both with crucial breaks near the end of the set. Shortly afterwards, Liu, Kandel, and Chen all finished their matches, winning in straight sets and tying the overall score at 3.

All of a sudden, the Ephs were in the driver's seat. Next came Volkema with a gutsy win at 4, putting the Ephs one match away from victory and a spot in the Sweet Sixteen. Shawn Berdia lost the first set in a tiebreaker, but battled back to win the second set 6-3, and Kush Anand split the first two sets on 6 as well. Down a break in the third, Anand dug in and battled back, and got himself to 4-3 break point on a big deuce no-ad point. The point that ensued can only be described as "absolute mayhem" and both players ended up at the net and then back at the baseline multiple times. Finally, Anand crushed an inside-out forehand and followed it in, finishing off a beautiful volley to put him up 5-3 serving for the match. Stepping up to the line, Anand got to 40-15, and when his opponent's backhand fell into the net, relief washed over the Ephs and they had completed the comeback. Eph head coach Dan Greenberg said of the match, "What a classic college tennis battle. In the postseason, it really is anything goes, and to come back from a 3-0 hole to survive and advance is one of the best matches I've had the privilege of being a part of. Let's keep dancin."

The Ephs face Bowdoin tomorrow at 12:00 PM for a spot in the NCAA DIII quarterfinals in St. Louis.
 
Doubles
Zhu/Drover-Mattinen (RPI) def. Kandel/Chen (WIL) 8-6 
Okada/McCandless (RPI) def. Berdia/Chong (WIL) 8-1
Burnham/McMillan (RPI) def. Volkema/Anand (WIL) 8-4
 
Singles
Kandel (WIL) vs. Drover-Mattinen (RPI) 6-1, 7-5
Chen (WIL) vs. Zhu (RPI) 6-3, 6-1
Berdia (WIL) vs. Okada (RPI) 6-7,(5) 6-3, 1-2
Volkema (WIL) def. Burnham (RPI) 6-4, 6-4
Liu (WIL) vs. McCandless (RPI) 6-0, 6-2
Anand (WIL) def. Shah (RPI) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3