Release courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications
TOWSON, MD – Fourth-ranked Middlebury beat the 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team, 5-2, in the NCAA Sweet 16 Sunday afternoon. The Blue Jays end their season at 19-5 while the Panthers improve to 17-3 and advance to the quarterfinals.
Daniel Ardila and Jonathan Zhang put Hopkins on top with an 8-6 win at second doubles over Robby Ward and Neel Epstein. Middlebury answered with a pair of tie-break wins at first and third to take a 2-1 lead. Joe Mairs and Julian Wu beat Joe DeMarco and George Jiang, 8-7 (5), at third to tie the match. Aidan Harris and Noah Laber then defeated James and Thomas Yu, 8-7 (4), at first to close out doubles.
Zhang opened singles play with a win over Harris at second to tie the match for the Blue Jays. He won the first set 6-1 but found himself down 5-2 in the second. Zhang rallied to win the second set and the match to make it 2-2. Wu put the Panthers back on top when he beat Ardila 6-2, 6-4 at fourth. Ward then won 6-2, 6-3 at fifth over James Yu to make it 4-2 Middlebury. Epstein clinched the win for the Panthers with a tight 7-6 (4), 6-4 win at third over Mason Liu.
The season will continue for James and Thomas Yu, who were selected to the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship.