Undefeated Men's Tennis Cruises Past Bates with 6-3 Victory
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A few hours before another snowstorm was set to hit New England on Wednesday afternoon, MIT men's tennis faced Bates College in the J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble, walking away with a 6-3 win. The undefeated Engineers increased their streak to 7-0, the longest they have remained unbeaten in the past few seasons. The Bearcats' record fell to 2-3.
The match got off to a rocky start when juniors Edwin Zhang (Falls Church, Va.) and Curtis Wu (Yorba Linda, Calif.) fell 8-1 to Pierre Planche and Timmy Berg in the No. 1 position of doubles and seniors Matthew Skalak (Croton-on Hudson, N.Y.) and Larry Pang (Torrance, Calif.) were defeated by Henry Lee and Matt Bettles, 8-6, in the second spot. Sophomore Eugene Oh (Alparetta, Ga.) and freshman Kevin Wang (Havertown, Pa.) picked up an 8-5 win at No. 3 spot against Ben Bogard and Dylan Reffe to end doubles.
Trailing 2-1 going into singles, the Engineers soon took over the lead with Zhang's win over Bettles, 6-4, 6-2 in the top spot, followed by a well-earned win by Pang at No. 2. He lost the first set to Berg, 7-6, but came from behind to win the next one, 7-6, and clinched the win with a 6-4 victory in the final set. Wang also played three close sets, losing the first one to Planche, 6-4, before winning the final two, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3.
Continuing singles action, Oh came away with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Henry Lee at No. 4. Bates avoided the singles sweep when Ben Bogard took a 6-2, 7-5 win over Wu in the fifth position. Skalak had an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andrew Salvador at No. 6 to end the day.
MIT returns to action on Saturday, March 9 when it hosts Baruch College at 1:00 p.m.
