HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's tennis team (6-5) newly minted as the No. 28 team in the nation according to the ITA rankings, fell 8-1 to No. 19 Mary Washington (10-3) on Friday afternoon non-conference at the Marshall Courts on the Haverford campus.

Mary Washington looked poised after making the trek from Virginia for the non-conference matchup, sprinting out to a 3-0 lead after doubles, with its trio of regionally-ranked doubles teams taking care of business on the road. George Jiang and Stefan Johnson had the tough task of going up against the top doubles team of the region, and performed valiantly before falling 8-5 to that top-touted team of Moses Hutchison and Andrew Watson. 

The team of Risi Charan Shankar and Nick Spera, ranked 10th, got the best of Patrick Kley and Adam Chow (8-1) and the 15th-ranked pairing of Peter Leese and Cole Tecce edged Jason Edmonds and Justin Minerva at the third doubles slot. 

Moving into singles play, Haverford put up some major battles against the Eagles. It was Andrew Watson who clinched the match against Danny Loder for the visitors, but Adam Chow forced his opponent into a first-set tiebreak before falling to Nick Spera at No. 5. Andreas Wingert, the reigning CC Player of the Week, looked strong in his defeat at the hands of Charan Shankar, being outlasted in a marathon tiebreak before a 7-5 loss in the second set at No. 2. 

Stefan Johnson delivered a big singles win for Haverford with the overall match decision already in hand for UMW, coming back from a 3-6 loss in the first set to rattle off 6-4, 7-5 victories at No. 4 singles over Cole Tecce. 

The Fords now hop right back into Centennial Conference action, hosting Franklin & Marshall tomorrow at 12 p.m. on the Bramall Courts. The contest will be preceded by Senior Day festivities as the program honors George Jiang, Patrick Kley, and Jackson Trevor before first serve.