HAVERFORD, Pa. - In a battle for Centennial Conference men's tennis supremacy it was No. 6 Johns Hopkins University that prevailed over the host Haverford College Fords, 9-0, on Saturday at the Norman B. Bramall Tennis Courts.
Haverford (9-4, 5-1 CC) and Johns Hopkins (10-4, 5-0) entered the day as the top two teams in the conference. The Fords started the match strong, but were unable to capture any team points in doubles action against the nation's sixth-ranked team.
The Fords nearly stole the No. 1 doubles match as Matt Romei and Sloan Millman battled against Johns Hopkins' top team of Michael Buxbaum and Emerson Walsh. Romei and Millman forced the match into extra games when they tied the score at 7-7. The Blue Jays won the next two games, though, and took the highest doubles spot, 9-7.
Luis Acaba and Jacob Youse lost their No. 2 doubles match, 8-4, but Acaba almost won his individual meeting at No. 1 singles. The sophomore controlled the first set, 6-3, lost the second set, 6-4, and dropped the third set tiebreaker to Buxbaum, 10-4. The loss is the first for Acaba in his last five matches.
At No. 3 singles, Youse fell 6-1 in the first set, and narrowly lost 6-4 in the second to Jeremy Dubin.
Haverford now has a week off before its next match. The Fords travel to Lancaster, Pa. next Saturday, April 19, to take on Franklin & Marshall College. The Centennial Conference meeting is set to begin at 12 p.m.