Boe-Wiegaard captures singles, doubles titles at Wallach Invitational
Click here for Singles Flights A and B complete results
Click here for Doubles Flights A and B complete results
Click here for Singles Flights C and D complete results
LEWISTON, Maine — Bates College’s Will Boe-Wiegaard sliced through the field to win his singles Flight A at Bates’ Wallach Invitational this weekend, allowing only one game between his opponents in his semifinal and final conquests of Tufts University’s Will Fleder and Amherst College’s Danny Babkes, respectively.
Meanwhile, in Flight B Colby College’s Ben Crane took the grinder’s route to his flight championship. Crane’s finals win over Tufts’ Sean McCooey only came after a 6-4 win in the second set and a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker. And even that came after a trio of equally tough matches in the earlier rounds: 6-3, 7-6 (4) over Bates’ Josh Feinberg in the first round; 7-6 (4), 6-4 over Chris Chaffee of Southern Maine in the quarterfinals; and a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) slugfest over Amherst’s Tal Avrahami in the semifinals.
Boe-Wiegaard (Georgetown, Conn.) later teamed up with Bates’ No. 2 singles player, fellow senior Tristan Beach (Grand Rapids, Mich.), to win the Flight A title in doubles, defeating Amherst College’s duo of Geoff Schwartz and Lennart Lepner in the final by an 8-5 score. Amherst’s Avrahani and Jeff Wan teamed up to top Tufts’ Corey Keller and Paul Roberts in the Flight B final.
For Bates coach Paul Gastonguay, the Wallach Invitational proved to be a satisfying way to conclude the fall portion of the 2005-06 season. In addition to Boe-Wiegaard’s tour de force, some of his younger players began to bring their games to a higher level, he said, and have shown a good work ethic.
And Beach, though he suffered a frustrating loss in the Singles Flight A semifinals to Babkes, has continued to play like a national contender such as Boe-Wiegaard.
“What’s really exciting about Tristan is he’s shown that he can play at a high national level,” said Gastonguay, citing Beach’s win earlier this year against Trinity College’s Brian Marsden, the NESCAC Co-Player of the Year. “He’s not only very aggressive along the baseline, but he’s great in transition to the net and has one of the best overhands anywhere. He’s down right now, but I told him it’s good he’s not satisfied.”
Boe-Wiegaard made it as far as the national singles finals last spring, yet the senior found himself struggling a bit in the early going this fall. Something clicked for him as action at the Wallach Invitational got under way, and the results were nearly as sudden. Boe-Wiegaard outlasted Colby’s Brian Brown by a 4-6, 6-2, (10-6) score, before putting away Fleder 6-1, 6-0 and Babkes 6-0, 6-0.
“To win it all by those scores is just phenomenal,” said Bates coach Paul Gastonguay.
Boe-Wiegaard considers himself a more adept singles player than doubles, and Beach as a superior doubles player than he. A rise in Bates’ team depth this year means the two seniors should be able to stick together as a formidable doubles team in the spring, with an eye on navigating their way to nationals.