Release courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications
The Basics
• Score: #14 NC Wesleyan-5, #12 Johns Hopkins-4
• Records: JHU (19-2) • NCWC (29-4)
• Location: Annapolis, MD • Brigade Sports Complex
• The Short Story: The 12th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaker, 5-4, to 14th-ranked NC Wesleyan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday.
How it Happened
• The Bishops grabbed a 2-1 lead after doubles, but the Blue Jays battled back to take a 4-3 lead. NC Wesleyan would take the final two matches to earn the 5-4 win in a marathon match that lasted more than four hours.
• John Falke and Juan Vallejo gave NC Wesleyan an early lead with an 8-0 win at third doubles over sophomore Rohan Reddy and senior Brian Wang. At first, Jhonny Acosta and Diego Segovia then beat sophomores Daniel Ardila and Thomas Yu, 8-4, in a battle of top-five doubles teams to put the Bishops up 2-0. Freshman Marco Azar and graduate student Vishnu Joshi pulled the Blue Jays within one with an 8-6 win over the ninth-ranked team of Roberto Puig and Max Robinson.
• Falke pushed NC Wesleyan's lead to 3-1 when he beat junior Andrew Tran 7-5, 6-1 at third singles. The Hopkins' comeback then started at second. Joshi won his first set 6-2 and but trailed 3-0 and 4-1 in the second to Vallejo. He then rallied to win the set 6-4 and take the match and make it 3-2 Bishops. Yu followed with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Acosta, the number one ranked singles player in the region. Yu trailed 4-3 in the second before winning the final three games to grab the win and tie the match at three.
• Ardila then put the Blue Jays up 4-3 with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 (5) win over Augusto Roca at fifth. Luca Knese
What it Means
• Hopkins ends its season at 19-2 and the 19 wins are tied for the third most in program history. The loss snaps the Blue Jays' 12-match win streak.
• JHU is now 7-6 all-time against NC Wesleyan, including 1-2 in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Jays fall to 21-16 all-time in the tournament.
• Joshi moves into a tie for ninth in program history with 109 career wins (56 singles, 53 doubles). He is also tied for 14th in career doubles wins.
Up Next
• Yu and Joshi's seasons will continue at the NCAA Singles Championships, scheduled for May 27-29 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, FL.