Box Score

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Sophomore Brandon Roode (Griswold, Conn.) and first-year Eduardo Irizarry (Lajas, Puerto Rico) teamed up to knock off the top doubles pair in the region as the Nichols College men's tennis team fell, 5-1, in the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship Second Round to nationally-ranked host Williams on Friday morning. Williams, the sixth-ranked team in the nation and second in the region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) improves to 19-3 and will face the winner of the MIT-Skidmore match on Saturday morning. Nichols (19-6) ends its 2012-13 campaign with the single-season wins record and is now 2-2 in NCAA tournament play over a span of two years.
 
With Williams leading 2-0 in doubles, Roode and Irizarry secured the lone Bison point of the match as they held off freshman Alexander Schidlovsky (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) and senior Trey Meyer (New Orleans, La.) 8-4 at the top flight. The Bison duo closed the flight with a 7-1 run after trailing 3-1 early in the matchup.
 
“Today was a fantastic day for our program,” commented head coach Paul Brower. “While the score was not what we hoped, it was an excellent showing against one of the top teams in the nation. In doubles, Brandon and Eduardo played the strongest match of their career by far adding a win over Williams #1 pair to a list that includes wins over top pairs from UConn, MIT, Wesleyan and Hobart among others.”
 
First-years Carlos De La Cruz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) and Josh Halpern (Secaucus, N.J.) were topped 8-2 at the third flight by senior Bryan Chow (Browns Valley, Calif.) and freshman Brian Astrachan (Orange, Conn.). Graduate student captain David Drucker (Bellmore, N.Y.) and senior Justin DeLuca (Mashpee, Mass.) fell 8-3 to the regionally-ranked tandem of junior Matt Micheli (San Francisco, Calif.) and senior Felix Sun (Potomac, Md.).
 
Chow along with freshman Howard Weiss (Great Neck, N.Y.) and senior Zach Weiss (Great Neck, N.Y.) cruised to straight-set singles triumphs to claim the 5-1 victory.
 
Brower added, “I think what I am most proud of is the fight we displayed across the board.  In singles, we truly made them earn everything. Everyone in our lineup fought with everything they had. Justin was well on his way to defeating the NESCAC Player of the Year when play was halted and Brandon had just blanked Micheli at two in the second set. Eduardo had just regained his form and was mounting a comeback at three. The effort David Drucker put together was phenomenal; he fought for every point and left everything he had on the court today. He walks away a champion in every sense of the word.”
 
Irizarry was trailing regionally-ranked Sun 6-3, 4-1 when the match was decided. DeLuca was ahead of Meyer, the sixth-ranked singles student-athlete in the region, 6-3, 1-0 while Roode and Micheli, ranked No. 18 in the Northeast, were in the third set with Micheli holding a one-game advantage. Roode rebounded from a 6-3 setback in the first set by taking the second set, 6-0.
 
“While naturally I am sad to see this tremendous season come to a close, today's effort makes me feel confident that we are headed in the right direction,” remarked Brower. “It has been an amazing season and I am counting the days until we get these guys back on the court next fall.”