Brown, Hagermoser, Photiades Win in Straight Sets; Andrienko Claims Three-Set Victory as Yale Tops Furman 5-2
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Yale men's tennis team submitted one of its most impressive performances of the season on Saturday, snapping a two-match losing streak and moving back above .500 with a 5-2 victory over Furman. Playing away from home, the Bulldogs overcame injuries to key players Tyler Lu and Ziqi Wang to reach a historic milestone: the team's 300th victory under Cary Leeds Head Coach Alex Dorato. This remarkable achievement stands as the latest highlight in a stellar coaching career for Dorato, who continues to pave the way as the winningest tennis coach in Yale history. During his 23 plus years at the helm, Dorato has earned countless accolades – among them the 2001 Jack Barnaby College Coach of the Year Award and the 2011 USTA New England Joseph Deitz Bowl – and has established the Yale men's tennis program as arguably the highest-achieving in the nation academically. Saturday's milestone victory came in particularly dominant fashion, with the Elis winning 9 of 12 matches (three exhibition).
Saturday's match kicked off with a round of doubles, and the Bulldogs looked formidable from the outset. First to finish were Jason Brown and Alex Hagermoser, who paired well to top Furman's Cameron Green and Adam Steryous 6-2; soon after, Photos Photiades and Martin Svenning clinched the doubles point for Yale with a convincing 6-2 win of their own at No. 3 doubles. Although Yale's Fedor Andrienko and Stefan Doehler ended up falling 6-4 in the top spot, the result had no bearing on the match. Freshmen duo Nathan Brown and Dennis Wang also did well in an exhibition doubles match to win 6-3 over Furman's Galen Arney and Alex Steryous.
In singles, the opposition quickly leveled the match score as Furman's Ben Horst handed Yale's Dennis Wang a tough 6-0, 6-1 loss. Yale standout Hagermoser was quick to reply at No. 2 singles, improving his record on the season to an impressive 15-5 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Furman leveled the score yet again, however, when Adam Steryous downed Svenning 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 1 singles spot; it was at this point on Saturday that the result looked in doubt. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, Photiades rose to the occasion in just his third dual match start of the season, winning 7-5, 6-2 at No. 6 singles; senior captain Jason Brown also made the best of his opportunity to start, notching a solid 6-3, 6-3 victory over Furman's Josh Pistorius at the No. 5 spot. This result not only marked Brown's fourth straight singles victory, but also clinched the match for the Elis.
With the match already decided in Yale's favor, Fedor Andrienko finished in style with a fantastic performance against Furman's Cameron Green at No. 3 singles. After winning the first set of his match 6-4 and dropping the second 6-1, Andrienko battled his way to a 6-6 third-set deadlock; in the ensuing tiebreak, the Bulldog pulled off a string of clutch shots to take the tiebreak 7-3 and win for the seventh time in his last eight matches. The Elis can only hope that Andrienko's red-hot play in 2016 will continue through the Ivy League season.
It should be noted that Yale also won two exhibition singles matches on Saturday. Stefan Doehler downed Furman's Arney 6-4, 7-5 and Nathan Brown beat Stefan Rhodes 1-6, 6-2, (10-6) in a third set super-tiebreak. These victories rounded out a positive day for the Bulldogs, who have needed a lift in confidence after a run of unfortunate injuries. The Elis' next match will come on Feb. 27 at home against Bryant.
Report by Cameron Ferguson '18, Yale Sports Publicity
