Feb. 18, 2011

Cambridge, Mass. -

Match Results

The Boston College men's tennis team lost Columbia, 4-3, in a dramatic seven-match contest in the first round of the ECAC Championship Tournament at the Murr Center in Cambridge, Mass. on Feb. 18.

"The team looked good today," Head Coach Scott Wilkins said. "This was a tough loss, but as long as we continue to play the way we have been, the wins are going to come. We put up strong performances against two nationally ranked programs in No. 1 Virginia and No. 45 Columbia over the past week and have been on the brink of breaking through. I'm confident the guys will come out ready to play tough again tomorrow."

The Eagles (4-4, 0-1 ACC) opened the match with three competitive doubles match ups against the Lions (3-2, 0-0 Ivy), but were unable to come away with the point.

A little while later, with both sides holding serve to fives, junior Alex Skinner and freshman Michael McGinnis had their serve broken by Tizian Bucher and Haig Schneierman, which eventually clinched the doubles point for Columbia, 8-6.

Trailing 4-6 on No. 3 singles, Seniors Adam Davison and Erik Kreutzer were able to rally back from the two-point deficit to win, 7-6, over Rajeev Deb-Seb and John Yetimoglu.

BC rebounded with a three-point swing with victories on singles courts one, two and three.

Skinner was the first Eagle to break through, defeating Cyril Bucher, 7-6, 6-0, on No. 2 singles to even the match.

Boston College took the lead when Kreutzer delivered another straight set win, 6-4, 6-4, over Kung in the three slot.

Muppidi emerged on top in a three set match against Schneiderman, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, avenging a loss to the Lion in the first game of the season and extending BC's lead, 3-1.

Courts four, five and six were also pushed to third sets. Despite battling through numerous long rallies and set-points, the Eagles were unable to secure a fourth point to move on in the tournament and lost, 4-3.

Boston College will play the losing side of the Dartmouth/St. John's game at 4 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Manchester Athletic Club in Manchester, Mass.