"I'm really happy," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "I thought today was going to be really tough. It was our toughest doubleheader of the year. We were extremely banged up, we played really short-handed and to win 7-0 and 6-1 shows how consistent we are."
The Bears began their sweep of the Goats by taking the doubles point. At first doubles, co-captain Dan Hanegby '07 teamed up with Basu Ratnam '09 to defeat Nate Nelms and Jason Hill 8-5. Co-captain Eric Thomas '07 and Chris Lee '09 also won an 8-5 match at second doubles against Stanley Kahl and Adrian Lai. At third doubles, Zack Pasanen '07 and Noah Gardner '09 earned an 8-6 victory over Ramsey Lemaich and Johnny Waters.
The Bears' domination continued in singles play as the team took five of the six singles matches in straight sets. At first singles, Hanegby faced Nelms for the second time that day, winning the match by a score of 6-3, 6-2. Thomas took on Hill at second singles, where he had a 6-1, 6-4 victory. At third singles, Ratnam earned a 6-4, 7-6 win over Waters, and at fourth singles, Pasanen defeated Lai 6-2, 7-5. Joe Scott '08 captured a three-set match against Lemaich at fifth singles, triumphing 6-4, 2-6, 1-0. At sixth singles, Gardner overpowered Kahl 6-1, 6-2.
"We played pretty well," Hanegby said. "We're pretty limited because lots of guys are injured, but we fought hard."
Last week, the Bears said their goal is to win the doubles point of every match this season, but in the second match of Saturday's doubleheader, the Bulls put them to the test. Hanegby and Ratnam took an 8-5 win over Yules Hadisubroto and Kirill Kolomyts at first doubles, but Scott and Gardner dropped the third doubles match to Mike Rockman and Albert Alant by a score of 8-4. The second doubles match forced a tiebreak to determine which team would capture the doubles point. Thomas and Pasanen defeated Nikesh Singh Panthlia and Octavian Stane 9-8 (1) to give Brown the early 1-0 edge.
The Bears got off to a slow start in singles play, which began with first-set losses by Hanegby and Pasanen at first and third singles. But Gardner won his first set at fourth singles, and according to Harris, Gardner's strong playing motivated his senior teammates.
"Noah Gardner was unbelievable energy-wise throughout the day," Harris said. "He won his first set in singles against Buffalo, which created momentum for the team for the rest of the match. Noah was the spark."
While Gardner went on to defeat Stane 6-3, 6-3, Hanegby and Pasanen bounced back to win their matches as well. Hanegby trounced Rockman 6-0, 6-0 in the remaining two sets, while Pasanen finished off his match 6-1, 6-2 to defeat Kolomytes. At second singles, Ratnam won another three-set match, earning a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Panthlia.
With Brown already ahead 5-0 at 11 p.m., the fifth and sixth singles matches were decided by eight-game pro-sets. At fifth singles Scott narrowly lost 9-8 to Hadisubroto, and at sixth singles Lee defeated Alant 8-6 to give Brown a 6-1 win.
"This was a tough part of our schedule," Thomas said. "It was tough not getting too much rest after our three matches on the road, but we kept our energy up, which is the most important thing."
The Bears have no matches scheduled for next weekend, giving them time to recuperate from injuries and the past week. They will compete next in a doubleheader on March 9 against the University of Rhode Island and Lafayette College.
"We need everyone to get healthy and get rest," Thomas said. "Our main concern is to have some recovery time."
