ITHACA, N.Y. – The Liberty League men's tennis championships got underway Friday at Cornell University's Reis Tennis Center, as the third-seeded Ithaca Bombers faced sixth-seeded RPI in a first round matchup. Despite dropping the doubles point, Ithaca rallied during singles winning four of the six matchups to earn the 4-3 win over the Engineers.
RPI secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win at No. 3, while Ithaca's top tandem of Gijs Fidler and Siddharth Vaada battled to a tiebreaker before narrowly dropping a 7–6 (9-7) decision to Tasmay Shah and Tsubasa Okada. The duo of Luis Crespo and Ean Lantzy were successful in taking down Felix Puyplat and Debarshi Sen by a set score of 6-3 in the other doubles matchup.
Ithaca quickly took a 2-1 lead during singles play, as Carlos Hernandez cruised past Sid Srinivasan in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, before Luis Crespo followed with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Gustave Viennet. The Engineers countered at No. 1 singles, where Tsubasa Okada earned a 6-1, 6-4 win over Gijs Fidler. The teams would then trade victories at No. 4 and No. 6. Siddharth Vaada would get the best of Debarshi Sen winning by scores of 6-2 and 7-5.
The match came down to a decisive battle between Ivan Kisic and Tasmay Shah. Kisic dropped the opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-4), before rallying to win the final two sets by identical 6-2 scores.
With the win, the Bombers improved to 11-7 overall and will face No. 24-ranked Skidmore in the Liberty League Championship semifinals once again at the Reis Tennis Center, with the match slated for 11:30 a.m.