REDLANDS, Calif. -- After half-a-day's rest, the Williams traveled from Claremont to Redlands on Friday to take on the No. 15 Redlands Bulldogs, managing to mount a comeback from 4-2 down to bag a third 5-4 win of the season, bringing their overall record to 5-1.
The Ephs took the lead after the doubles portion by claiming two of the three possible points. At one-doubles, senior Matt Micheli and sophomore Alexander Schidlovsky outlasted the junior combination of Nick Cummins and Teddy Jones by a margin of 8-6. The Bulldogs then leveled the match score at 1-1, thanks to the other junior pairing of Patrick Lipscomb and Gram Leahy triumphing against freshman Conrad Harron and sophomore Brian Astrachan at the No. 2 position. Williams, however, took the final point at third doubles as the combination of sophomore Jose Raventos and freshman Rohan Shastri were too much for the freshman pair of Tom Suchodolski and Jake Ly, defeating them 8-6.
The Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders in the singles portion, quickly taking the first three matches off the courts to earn a 4-2 advantage. Lipscomb, Cummins and freshman Parker Wilson overpowered Micheli, Weiss and Schidlovsky at the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 positions respectively.
Proving the Ephs weren't out of the match yet, however, Raventos quickly closed out his match at No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-1 against Leahy. Then, after losing his first set 6-1, Astrachan showed real grit and resilience at the six position to bounce back and defeat Jones 6-0, 6-1 in the second and third sets. With the match down to Harron's final set at the No. 3 position, he stepped up in a big way, taking the final set 6-3 to get the Ephs back to their winning ways.
