ORLANDO, Fla. - The Haverford College men's tennis team (3-1) opened its stint in Central Florida with a split, falling to NESAC foe Wesleyan by a 6-3 decision before returning to power past Emerson 8-1, in a match that began Monday night at the USTA National Campus and was completed on Tuesday morning.
Against Wesleyan, The Fords went ahead 2-1 with key doubles victories after dropping a decision at the top doubles flight. Peter Anker and Ben Mitchell got the better of Jason Edmonds and Stefan Johnson but Haverford rallied with the pairings of George Jiang and Jackson Trevor collecting wins over Zach Lieb and Harry Portnoy in a tiebreak while Patrick Kley and Adam Chow dispatched Max Lustgarten and Clay Gaieski 8-4 at the third doubles position.
Moving into single play, Wesleyan tied the match at the top flight with Anker grabbing a win over Jiang, and the Cardinals later pulled ahead as Ben Mitchell downed Johnson at the third flight. Reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Week Adam Chow remained undefeated with his victory over Lustgarten at No. 5, putting the Fords right back in the match with things now tied at 3-3 heading into a decisive set of matches.
Max Lee dispatched Abhinav Nallapareddy (7-5, 6-2) at the sixth flight to put Wesleyan on the brink of victory, with Harry Portnoy eventually clinching the decision against Danny Loder at the fourth flight while Zach Lieb similarly earned a victory over Andreas Wingert at the second position, with the match decision already in hand.
Getting an opportunity to play at the USTA National Campus in the night match, Haverford wrestled control from Emerson with a 2-1 lead after doubles play. James McKenzie and Chow teamed up for a doubles win to open things while Nallapareddy and John Finberg also teamed up to deliver a win for the Fords. Haverford swept singles play from the Lions, with Max Beckwith and McKenzie putting the Fords on the brink of a win with their match triumphs at the fourth and fifth flights before John Finberg delivered the clincher with his 6-1, 6-0 win at the sixth flight.
Nallapareddy, Kirin Eicher, and Stefan Johnson also delivered sweeps of their opponents as the action resumed on Tuesday, Haverford's originally scheduled off day from competition.
The Fords now return to action on Wednesday, with a pair of matchups at the USTA National Campus with North Carolina Wesleyan (8 a.m.) and Wittenberg (1:30 p.m.).