SALISBURY, Md. - Playing in its first road match of the 2021-22 season, the Haverford College men's tennis team (2-0) handed host Salisbury (3-1) its first loss of the campaign with a 6-3 decision indoors at the Salisbury Indoor Tennis Center.
Haverford took advantage of a strong start to doubles with Stefan Johnson and Jason Edmonds taking the victory at No. 2 doubles by an 8-4 decision ahead of the Salisbury duo tying the score at 1-1 with an 8-6 win over the pairing of Jackson Trevor and George Jiang. The Fords went into singles with some confidence up 2-1 thanks to the pairing of Patrick Kley and Adam Chow taking a narrow 8-7 win by virtue of a 7-3 decision in the tiebreaker.
The first singles match to finish saw Andreas Wingert making quick work of Russell Willenborg at the second flight (6-0, 6-2) before Jiang put the Fords up 4-1 in the overall match tally, sitting on the brink of the match victory as he battled with Brad Pappalardo at the top flight. Jiang was upended in the first-set tiebreaker, but rattled off a 6-2 win in the second set to set up a fiercely contested 10-point tiebreak in lieu of the third set. In that decider, Jiang wrestled control of the upper hand for a 10-8 triumph.
Salisbury fought off elimination deftly as Gianluca Beaujon and Luke McMullen grabbed victories over Danny Loder and Abhinav Nallapareddy at the third and fifth flights, respectively, but again it was reigning Centennial Conference Player of the Week Adam Chow making his mark in a clutch moment, sending the Fords over the top with his relatively straightforward 6-2, 6-4 victory over Chris Catan. With just sixth flight singles left to be decided, Kirin Eicher prevailed over Gavin Reagle in an eight-game pro set to put a wrap on the afternoon.
Playing against the Sea Gulls for the first time since 2018, the Fords made their first appearance at Salisbury since 2013, moving to 16-8 all-time in the series against Head Coach Eric Spangler's alma mater.
The Fords now embark on the spring break trip to the Orlando, Florida area, with six matches on the docket between Monday and Friday of next week in the Sunshine State. The action begins on Monday at 11:30 a.m. against Wesleyan (Conn.).