The Houghton University Men's Tennis Team opened up their spring season with an intense battle against liberty league foe, Ithaca College, Saturday afternoon. The Highlanders fought hard, but could not over power the Bombers, falling 7-2 in the overall match score.
Houghton would set the tone with a fast start on all three of the doubles courts. Despite Webb/Zach falling 8-4 at the first flight, and Garcia/Staerkle losing 8-2 at the second position, the matches maintained a very high quality throughout. The third pairing of Schilke/Cicero were able to get the Highlanders on the board with a massive 8-6 victory. In singles action,
Jaimie Staerkle would find the last win of the afternoon overcoming a set down deficit. He would prevail 1-6, 6-3, 10-6 at the third singles spot. Deeper into the lineup,
Marcelo Garcia and
Nolan Zach would battle hard at the fifth and sixth singles positions respectively.
Nolan Zach fought back from tough starts in his sets, but could not overcome his opponent losing 7-5, 6-4.
Marcelo Garcia would be the last match of the day that ended in a thrilling 10 point super tiebreak in lieu of a third set. After faltering in the first set 5-7, Garcia turned it up a gear winning the second 6-3 and forcing the deciding tiebreak. In a heartbreaker, Garcia would just come up short 11-9.
"What a great way to start the Spring season" Head Coach
Zach Shilvock said after the contest. "Ithaca is a really strong program that has given us challenges both physically and mentally the past few seasons. I am proud of the focus we maintained throughout the long match. I want to shout out a few outstanding performances today from Schilke and Cicero in doubles, Jaimie for problem solving and conquering a very skilled opponent, and finally to Marcelo and Nolan for battling their absolute hearts out. There is much to improve as a group, but there is also much to be excited about looking forward."
The Highlanders fall to 0-2 on the year with the loss, but will have the chance to rebound with several matches over their Spring Break in a couple weeks. Houghton will matchup against Wilkes University Monday, February 27th on the road at 3pm.
