April 14, 2006
Solis Lifts #20 WC Over Garnet, 4-3
Junior Clinches Match With Three-Set Victory

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Junior Arturo Solis (Guatemala, Guatemala/Valle Verde School) posted a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, win over Zac Rodd at No. 1 singles to give host Washington College, the 20th-ranked team in Division III and ninth-ranked team in the Atlantic South region, a 4-3 men's tennis victory today over visiting Swarthmore, the fourth-ranked team in the region, in a match that began outdoors at Washington's Schottland Tennis Center and finished inside in the Lifetime Fitness Center. The Shoremen improved to 13-3 on the season with their 10th consecutive win, while the Garnet fell to 4-10.

Washington swept doubles to pick up the first point of the match. Solis and senior Tim Riskie (Woodbury, NJ/Woodbury), the fourth-ranked doubles team in the region, bested Rodd and Brian Park, 9-7, at No. 1. Senior Mike Edison (Darnestown, MD/Good Counsel) and senior Maciek Prytula (Szczecin, Poland/PLO) downed Jonathan Reiss and Jonathan Lo, 9-8(5), at No. 2, while freshman Anantha Bhaskar (Chennai, India/National Open School) and freshman Rafael Roldan (Quito, Ecuador/Academia Cotopaxi) were 8-4 winners over Sam Sidhu and Kevin Shaughnessy at No. 3.

Washington went up 3-0 in the match after Bhaskar beat Park, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 3 singles and Roldan bested Sidhu, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 6. Adam Wallwork put Swarthmore on the board with a 7-5, 6-3, win over Prytula at No. 5, while Lo bested Edison, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 4 to trim the lead to 3-2. The Garnet tied the score with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win by Reiss, the eighth-ranked singles player in the region, over Riskie at No. 2 singles.

Solis, the top-ranked singles player in the region, led Rodd, the fifth-ranked singles player in the region, in the third set of No. 1 singles, 4-1, before the deciding match was moved indoors due to darkness. Both players held serve before the first break as the score of the set moved to 5-2. The eighth game reached deuce five times; Solis had match points during the third and fourth deuces, but Rodd prevailed in the fifth deuce to hold serve and make the score of third set 5-3. Solis trailed, 15-30, in the ninth game of the set before scoring the final three points of the match to give the Shoremen the win. Solis finished the match with an ace on his third match point of the set.

Solis's win at No. 1 singles was his second come-from-behind three-set win of the academic year over Rodd. Solis bested Rodd, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, to win the ITA Southeast Regional Singles Championship in October.

The Shoremen snapped a three-match losing streak against the Garnet with the win. Two of those three Swarthmore victories were by 4-3 finals.

The Shoremen return to action tomorrow with a 2:00 p.m. match at Carnegie Mellon, the fifth-ranked team in the Atlantic South.

MATCH RESULTS