An evenly matched regional battle among nationally ranked men's tennis squads lived up to the hype, with visiting Hobart College emerging with a narrow 5-4 victory over the University of Rochester on Wednesday evening at the Goergen Athletic Center.
 
Entering the match, Rochester (11-3) was ranked #33 in Division III and #11 in the Northeast Region, while Hobart (9-4) was ranked #36 nationally and #13 in the region.
 
Doubles started with the teams trading wins at #3 and #1 respectively.  At three, UR's Yifan Shen and Tanmay Thakkar breezed past Jonathan Atwater and Colin Molloy 8-2.  Hobart's Alan Dubrovsky and Walker Anderson evened up the score with an 8-5 win over Masaru Fujimaki and Runjia Fang at #1.  Both #1 doubles teams are regionally ranked in the top-10 in the Northeast.
 
The deciding point in doubles was a back-and-forth affair at #2 between UR's Sahaj Somani and Pasquale Procaccino and Hobart's Thomas Shung and Jack Ledford.  Shung and Ledford ended up with an 8-7 win, edging out the tiebreaker by a 7-5 score.
 
Singles started with Hobart edging ahead 3-1 after Atwater defeated Fang in straight sets by a 6-4, 6-4 score.
 
Rochester's Fujimaki kept the Yellowjackets in contention with a huge win at #1 against Dubrovsky, the nation's #5 ranked player, winning 6-4, 6-2 in a match featuring some high-level tennis.
 
Hobart would clinch the match in the next two matches, winning two tight 3-set affairs at #3 and #4.  At three, Anderson won against Shen 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.  Ledford then won the clinching point, posting a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over Thakkar at four.
 
The Yellowjackets would close the match on a high note though, getting straight set victories for Somani at five and Mark Zolotukhin at six.  Somani defeated Shung 6-3, 6-4, while Zolotukhin earned a 7-5, 6-3 win.
 
Rochester's next match is scheduled for Saturday morning at The College of New Jersey before finishing off the weekend with a Sunday match at NYU.