HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The Carleton College men's tennis team won another thriller, edging regional foe University of Wisconsin-Whitewater by a 4-3 margin. This was the Knights' third straight nail-biter.
The Knights (12-2) came out strong, sweeping the three doubles matches.
Owen Heidtke and
Ezra Bernhard returned to the win column and notched their team-best 10th victory of the season, prevailing 6-1 at No. 3 doubles.
Zach Leslie and
Yihe Zhang remain undefeated as a duo after posting a matching 6-1 triumph at the second slot. The No. 16-ranked tandem of
Akshay Garapati and
Jack Rivkin topped the top pairing from UW-Whitewater—Theo Billson and Carter Michaels—by a 7-6 (8-6) margin.??
The Warhawks (7-6) took the lead with a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 6 singles and added a 6-0, 6-1 victory at the second slot.
The top singles flight featured a matchup of nationally-ranked players, with UW-Whitewater's Billson, ranked No. 26, prevailing 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6) over Garapati, who is ranked No. 34 in the country.
Leslie added a 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 win at No. 3 singles, and Bernhard improved to 10-3 on the year thanks to his 6-1, 7-5 victory at the fourth slot.
The team result came down to the No. 5 singles match, with Rivkin eventually prevailing over Gavin Kelleher by a 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-8) margin.
Regarding Rivkin's heroic singles match, Carleton head coach
Stephan Zweifel said, "Confident, focused, and great facial hair; the world has found the next Chuck Norris."
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton faces Oberlin College in a 11:30 a.m. EDT match on Wednesday, March 25.
