LEWISTON – Fans daring to brave the blistering heat were out in force at the Wallach Tennis Center at Bates College Saturday. They were there to cheer for Bates sophomore Will Boe-Wiegaard in the Men’s Division-III National Tennis Singles Championships.

Too bad portable air conditioners were not provided.

Brian Murphy of Redlands (California) overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first set of his match against Boe-Wiegaard in the afternoon heat to take eight straight games en route to a 6-3, 6-2 win in the first round of the 32-man singles tournament.

With temperatures pushing 90 degrees in the stands, temperatures on the court were even higher.

“I could feel the heat coming off the court and onto my legs,” Boe-Wiegaard said. “After those first four games, the heat really took me out of my rhythm.”

“All four of those first game were really close, too,” said Murphy. “After that switch, at 2-3, I started to work more on penetrating the court, hitting through my ground strokes and keeping them deep. That helped to get the crowd out of it.”

The grandstand in front of the first court was jammed with Bates students and local tennis fans alike, clad in their coolest summer attire, and almost all cheering for Boe-Wiegaard.

“They were absolutely great,” Boe-Wiegaard said. “With that crowd, one shot, never mind one game, could have shifted the momentum.”

Some in the crowd took repeat trips to the swimming pool in nearby Merrill Gym to cool off, returning to the matches in swim suits and tank tops.

Murphy was not immune to the heat, either. In the second set, after Boe-Wiegaard finally won another game to make it 3-1, a look of exhaustion also crossed Murphy’s face.

“That was do or die,” Murphy said. “If he had gone on to win that next game to make it 3-2, the crowd was going to be right back into it, and in this heat, you never know what can happen. I figured that whoever won that game would probably win the second set at least.”

Boe-Wiegaard, meanwhile, had confidence until the end.

“I was down a set and 5-1 in the conference championships last year,” Boe-Wiegaard said. “I came back and won that match. I saw he was getting tired, too and maybe if I had won the point to get to 5-3 I might have had the chance.”

After serving to pull to within 5-2, Boe-Wiegaard had three different chances to get to 5-3, but ultimately it was a good guess that did him in.

“I saw that he had been favoring his forehand all day,” Murphy said. “On the second serve on my advantage, I took a chance and put it hard up the middle.”

“I was cheating a bit on the serve,” Boe-Wiegaard admitted. “This game can be as much about tendencies as it is about hitting the ball hard. He caught me on that one.”

Seedless singles

Boe-Wiegaard was the No. 8 overall seed in the tournament, and the No. 2 seed from the East Region. Most of the seeds in the tournament suffered Boe-Wiegaard’s fate on Saturday.

Second seeded Peter Taylor of Washington University of Maryland lost in straight sets to Brian Waldron of Middlebury 6-4, 6-2, while No. 3 Loren Collins of Gustavus Adolphus fell in the first round to J.R. Hall of Pomona-Pitzer (California).

Fifth seeded Brian Casey of California-Santa Cruz also lost in Round 1 when he fell to Tyson Ramsay of Emory in a rematch of Friday’s No. 2 singles match between the teams.

No. 6 Mark Odgers of Emory, meanwhile, also found the door early, losing to Dane Schmidgall of Carthage 6-2, 6-4. Nick Barnes of Coe also left quickly when Brian Marsden of Trinity (Connecticut) upended him 6-3, 6-3.

Evan Tindell of MIT, the tournament’s top seed, barely survived a three-set marathon in the first round but ultimately fell in the second to David Shay of Washington & Lee, leaving No. 4 Matt Seeberger of UCSC as the only remaining seed.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that the seeds weren’t good,” Seeberger said. “It just means that the rest of the field is also just as good. With this heat today, you had to be mentally strong more than anything, and not worry about the heat.”

Easier said than done, for some, as the second round saw its share of medical problems, as well. Murphy and his second-round opponent, Ari Rosenthal of Washington (Missouri), had to call for a trainer, and Rosenthal ultimately retired in the third set with bad cramps. Tyson Ramsay of Emory also retired in his match with Williams’ Andrew Murray in the third set.

The first round of the doubles tournament was suspended shortly after 6:30 p.m. after rain showers started to move through the area. There were five matches still on the courts when play was suspended.

In the three matches that did finish, top seeded Mark Odgers and Alex Jacobs of Emory upended Josh Rilla and Danny Babkes of Amherst 6-4, 6-1, while Matt Brunner and Kellen Ali-Christie of UCSC upset No. 3 seed Adam Morgan and Brett Morse-Karzan of Gustavus Adolphus 6-3, 6-4.

Also upset before play was suspended was the fourth seed, Evan Tindell and Vitaliy Pereverzev of MIT. They fell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to Michael Malvitz and Julian Seelan of Kalamazoo (Michigan).

Doubles play in the five remaining matches will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday. The singles quarterfinals will begin as scheduled at noon, and the quarterfinals of the doubles bracket will start at 4 p.m.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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