The Ithaca College men’s tennis team had a very successful weekend as it opened up its 2016–17 season at the St. Lawrence Invitational on Sept. 10–11.

Senior Wes Davis, sophomore Michael Gardiner and freshman Minos Stavrakas all played in the “A” singles flight. All three were faced with stiff competition, and Stavrakas was the only Bomber of the three to advance to the semifinals, winning his matches 8–3 and then 8–1. Gardiner won his opening match 8–2, but fell 8–2 in his quarterfinals match. Davis went the length against Rochester’s freshman Sahaj Somani, but fell 9–8 in a tiebreaker.

The Bombers sent freshmen Liam Spiegel, Colton Lavery and Jared Fields to compete in singles matches for the “B” flight. Lavery won his matches very decisively, taking them 8–1 and then lost 8–2 to secure himself a semifinal spot for the second day of the match. Despite going the distance in his opening match, which he took 7–4, Fields comfortably won his second match 8–2, making him the second Bomber semifinalist for the “B” flight. Lavery cruised to an 8–1 victory in his opening match, but fell 8–2 in his quarterfinals matchup.

The final two singles matches saw senior Nathan Wolf and freshman Max Prestwich in the “C” flight. Wolf swept his first match 8–0 and won a contested second match 8–5. Prestwich worked Junior Jun Yuminaga of the University of Rochester to a long match, but ultimately lost 8–6.

Three of the five doubles tandems were in the “A” flight. Davis and sophomore Sam McGrath took their opening match 8–2 but later fell 8–1 at the hands of Hobart College’s sophomore Jonah Salita and senior Danny Kot.

On the second day, the Bombers looked to keep the momentum and take home some titles. Stavrakas continued an electric start to his collegiate career, winning his first match 6–3, 3–6, 10–7. He controlled the championship match from start to finish, winning in straight sets over Hobart’s Salita to win the “A” singles flight and his first career title.

Spiegel was unable to advance past the semifinal match for the “B” flight, dropping his match 2–6 and 4–6. Fields dropped the first set 5–7 but rallied to take the second set 6–2. After a whopping 24 points for the tiebreaker, Fields lost the tiebreaker 13–11 to Rochester’s Yifan Shen.

In the “C” singles flight was Wolf, who won both of his matches to become the Bombers’ second title winner of the tournament.

The Bombers will continue their season at the Bloomsburg Invitational at 9 a.m. Sept. 17 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.