ORLANDO, Fla. - The 29th-ranked Haverford College men's tennis team (3-3), returned to action at the USTA National Campus on Wednesday, splitting the day against Rochester and Wheaton (Ill.). Haverford dropped a hard-fought, 5-4 decision to the Yellow Jackets before turning around with little rest between matches, taking down Wheaton in a convincing 8-1 performance.
Rochester 5, #29 Haverford 4
Going up against a talented Rochester side, the Fords split the first two doubles pairings, getting a win at the third doubles flight from Aiden Kim and Max Beckwith. The pair prevailed over Surya Rajamani and Kenneth Lee by an 8-5 final. Rochester took the top doubles flight, heading into the singles portion of play up 2-1.
Haverford looked strong from that point, with Justin Minerva making quick work of Kenneth Lee (6-0, 6-4) at sixes. Rochester fired back to go up 3-2, but Stefan Johnson posted a very strong effort at the second flight, surrendering just four games in his 6-3, 6-1 triumph. Andreas Wingert was outlasted at the top flight to put Rochester on the brink of a clinch, but Aiden Kim stormed back to deny the Yellow Jackets with his superbreaker win over Rahul Ravi at the third flight.
Ultimately, Rochester did take the narrow win at the fifth flight, with Adam Chow locking horns in a battle with Kei Ogawa. After Chow took the first set, a marathon second-set tiebreaker went to Ogawa 14-12, and the superbreaker also went to the Rochester player by a 10-7 final as Chow took his opponent to the brink before falling.
#29 Haverford 8, Wheaton (Ill.) 1
In the nightcap with Wheaton, Haverford looked determined to shake off the loss earlier in the day. The Fords stormed past Wheaton in doubles, taking wins at all three flights. That performance was highlighted by Chow and Johnson prevailing in a tiebreaker at the first flight and Kim/Minerva and Beckwith/McKenzie notching 8-6 decisions at the second and third.
Moving into singles, Minerva bageled Corin Tang to start things off at the sixth flight, before Wheaton got its individual match win at fives, with Chow falling to Joey Geisz in a superbreaker. From there, it was all Haverford, with Kim clinching at fives, Haverford's second consecutive clincher from a first-year player.
Johnson, Wingert, and McKenzie all added victories after the final team decision was settled to reflect the sizable 8-1 scoreline in favor of Haverford. Each of those decisions occurred in straight sets as the superbreaker was the only set played over the minimum in the evening match.
Men's Tennis will have a well-earned day off tomorrow, with its next match coming on Friday against a top-10 side in No. 8 North Carolina Wesleyan. The night match is slated for 7 p.m. at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando.