HAVERFORD, Pa. - Opening the 2021-22 dual match season inside Alumni Field House, the Haverford College men's tennis team (1-0) grinded out a key early season victory over Stevens (0-3) to set the tone for the upcoming spring, handing Head Coach Eric Spangler his first victory at the helm of the Fords.
Accustomed to a longer day due to limited court availability inside, the endurance of the Fords was tested by a strong Ducks side in the early goings of what proved to be a marathon afternoon battle. Stevens struck first, winning the doubles decision, picking up two consecutive victories after the team of Jason Edmonds and Stefan Johnson struck for an 8-6 win to open things up. Marc Feliu and Aashi Kulakarni evened the match for the visitors with their triumph over the top doubles team of George Jiang and Jackson Trevor. Olof Persson and Troy Zhang later slipped past Haverford's No. 3 doubles pairing of Justin Minerva and Danny Loder.
Moving deftly into singles play, it was first year Andreas Wingert making quick work of Feliu in quick 6-0, 6-1 sets at the second flight to even the overall match score at 2-2. From that point, Stevens grabbed a pair of victories with Keegan Morris getting the best of Jiang at the top flight (6-4, 6-2) and Kulakarni outlasting Johnson at No. 3 (6-3, 6-3), putting Haverford on the brink of defeat with work to do.
Undaunted, Abhinav Nallapareddy then delivered a crucial tally to the Haverford side, putting the Fords within one with his triumph over Sebastian Wroe (6-2, 6-3) at the sixth flight. Danny Loder then proved to be a clutch performer at No. 4, knotting things up at 4-4 as he slipped past Vivek Harinarayan in a first-set tiebreak and later dropped the second set to set up a must-win third. In that do-or-die third set, Loder eked out the 6-4 win, setting the stage for the fifth-flight matchup between Adam Chow and Matt Luzzi.
Luzzi gave Stevens some momentum with a 6-4 victory in the first set, but Chow rallied back for the Fords, firing off consecutive 6-3 wins to clinch the match, setting off a raucous celebration as his teammates mobbed him on the court. The victory was Haverford's second straight over Stevens, as the Fords now hold a 16-15 all-time advantage over the Ducks in a historic rivalry that dates back to the 1923 season.
Men's Tennis will now be off from competition until Friday when the Fords take a pre-spring break excursion to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to do battle with Salisbury. The contest is slated for a 4 p.m. start.