POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 25, 2017) – The Vassar College men's tennis team (5-2) roared back from a 4-0 deficit to secure a 5-4 win over University of Rochester at the Athletics & Fitness Center on Saturday.
 
The Brewers fell behind early, but stayed true to form, winning out and completing the incredible comeback on Alexander Luckmann's 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 win over Yifan Shen at No. 6 singles.
 
"Unbelievable win," coach Alex Wong said. "We were down the entire day. Got swept in doubles. Credit to the guys — they never gave up. They never lost belief that they could win this match. That's what we talked about when we were approaching the singles portion."
 
In doubles action, Vassar held leads through the early portion of both No. 2 and No. 3 matches, but couldn't hold on as Rochester rallied to take all three doubles' points. Aaron Mevorach and Masaru Fujimaki started the scoring with an 8-3 win over seniors Nick Litsky and Alexander Luckmann at No. 1 doubles.
 
At No. 3 doubles, Vassar's Juan Felipe Laso and Dom Demeterfi led 4-3 midway through the match, but Tanmay Thakkar and Sahaj Somani pushed back to pick up the second points for the Yellowjackets with an 8-4 decision. The most exciting match in doubles was at No. 2, as Vassar freshmen Jeremy Auh and Allen Sokolov and UR's Andrew Nunno and Sam Leeman went tit-for-tat.
 
With the score 7-6 in favor of the Yellowjackets, Vassar worked its serving game to deuce. Using the no-advantage scoring Saturday, Vassar pulled even after Auh put away a winner to set the match to a tie-break. Once there, Rochester pulled away, holding a 6-2 lead at one point before earning the 8-7 (3) victory. In exhibition doubles play, sophomores Nick Zuczek and Jamie Anderson won their match decisively 8-1.
 
In singles play, Rochester moved to within one match point of the overall victory on the day at No. 5 singles, as Somani earned a 6-4, 7-5 win over Auh. The freshman for Vassar looked poised to take the contest to a third set, but Somani charged back late to pick up the win. From then on, it would be Vassar College, as the comeback trail was on.

VC's first victory of the day would come at No. 1 singles, as Litsky topped Fujimaki 7-5, 6-2 to make the score 4-1. Litsky played from behind much of the first set, but his return game put pressure on Fujimaki, allowing for the comeback. In the second set, Litsky proved to be too strong, moving to 8-3 on the season in singles play.
 
The Brewers continued the comeback, as Laso was able to outlast Leeman at No. 3 singles with scores of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Laso's steady baseline game and ability to keep points alive was the key in the match, as the shifty senior from Ecuador was able to wear down his opponent late.
 
Anderson would pull Vassar to within one, as the spirited and emotional sophomore picked up the first set 7-5, and then took the second set in a tiebreaker to chalk up the 7-5, 7-6 win. Sokolov would be the next Brewer to contribute to the rally, as he scored a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles.
 
In the match, Sokolov and Andrew Nunno of Rochester went shot-for-shot, splitting the first two sets. In the third and with Sokolov serving up 5-4, the freshman went up 40-0 and earned the victory after a slice from Nunno sailed over the baseline, as the crowd roared and Sokolov was congratulated by his teammates.
 
Finally, in the day's deciding match, Luckman challenged Shen all the way to three sets. The experienced senior took the first set 6-4, and it was a tight battle the rest of the way. Shen pulled even in the second set with a 7-5 victory, but Luckman had the final say, completing the comeback with a 7-5 win at No. 6 singles.

"Lucky's been in those situations before," Wong said. "We had confidence in him. He fought tough. That player is a really good player, who I thought came up with some really big shots, but he just stayed in it and played tough all the way to the end. We needed someone to go out there and battle, and credit to him, he did that and came up with a 'W.'"
 
The Brewers hit the road for the next seven matches, playing at The College of New Jersey on Sunday, March 5 at 1 p.m. before heading to California for their Spring Break trip.