TOWSON, Md. - In the regular season finale, the Haverford College men's tennis team (11-7) wrapped up a 6-3 win over Mary Washington (8-9) at Goucher College in the Baltimore area, prevailing at the neutral site in what turned out to be a closely contested battle with a formidable Eagles side. Haverford won five of six singles matches to stake a momentous victory after falling behind 2-1 after doubles play.
The doubles pairing of James McKenzie and Stefan Johnson was defeated by the Eagles' pairing of Rishi Charan Shankar and Andrew Watson by an 8-3 final, and Haverford found itself in a 2-0 hole as the team of Brock Ladehoff and Peter Leese got past Adam Chow and Justin Minerva by an 8-6 final score.
Haverford earned its doubles point in a marathon, with Kirin Eicher and Abhinav Nallapareddy outlasting Andrew Cooper and Artis Hart in a whopping 18-16 tiebreaker as neither side had any interest in budging before the Haverford duo prevailed in a matchup that took over an hour to complete.
Andreas Wingert opened singles competition at the second flight with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Andrew Watson, and Haverford went ahead 3-2 as Aiden Kim got past Hart at the third flight (6-2, 6-3).
Andrew Cooper pulled one back for Mary Washington, taking a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Justin Minerva at the fifth, but Johnson then prevailed over Charan Shankar at the first flight, taking a three-set win as his 7-5 win in the first set was ultimately reversed by Shankar's 6-2 win in the second. In a closely contested third set, Johnson prevailed 6-4 to put Haverford on the brink of a match clinch.
That clinch came at the fourth flight from "The Clinchman", himself as McKenzie served a role he has many times this season with a marathon win over Brock Ladehoff to seal the win for the Fords. The Melbourne, Australia product won the first-set tiebreaker 7-6(4) and after Ladehoff tied things with a 6-2 win, responded with a 7-6(7) win in a two-hour, 14 minute classic.
The last match to reach conclusion featured Adam Chow rallying from a first-set loss to take down Leese 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
With the 2023 regular season now complete, Haverford now turns its attention to the Centennial Conference tournament, with action slated to begin on Tuesday, April 25 at home against Franklin & Marshall. First serve time is still to be determined, with details finalized on Monday's pre-championship conference calls.