HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team handed Wilkes University its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 6-3 victory inside the Alumni Field House. The previously unbeaten Colonels (11-1) came into today riding an 11 match winning streak. The Fords (3-1) have now won three straight after their most recent victory.
Haverford took an early advantage as it led 2-1 after the doubles action. Wilkes struck with the first team point of the afternoon in the middle doubles pairing, but two hard-fought victories gave the Fords the lead after doubles competition.
Harrison Elbert and Luis Acaba prevailed in the top doubles position by an 8-6 margin. Haverford's No. 1 doubles team is now riding its own personal three-match winning streak together – a streak that coincides with the team's overall success. The swing match in doubles came when Ishaan Prinz and Nick Sweeney improved to 2-0 since being paired together. After splitting the first 16 games with their opponents, the Fords' No. 3 pairing conceded just four points to win the tiebreak.
Moving over to singles action, it was the Fords' second half of the ladder that stepped up on Saturday. Acaba suffered his first defeat of the spring singles season. He forced a tiebreak in his bid to force a decisive third set, but came up just shy in the extra points. Wilkes also claimed the No. 2 singles position.
Haverford swung the momentum back in its favor with a pair of tight victories at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Josh Moskovitz improved to a perfect 4-0 at No. 3 singles following his match on Saturday. The Fords' freshman won in a first set tiebreak before a 6-4 second set victory. Elbert used a pair of tiebreak victories to clinch his straight set win at No. 4. In the first set tiebreak, Elbert did not allow his opponent a single point. In the second set tiebreak, Elbert and his counterpart needed extra points in the tiebreak before the Fords' senior leader emerged a 10-8 winner in the extra points.
Needing just one victory out of the final two matches, Haverford recorded wins at both No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Zack Mason came through with the clinching point in a straight set victory at No. 6 singles. He cruised to a 6-1 opening set before a 6-4 second set sealed the team's win. At No. 5, Prinz joined Elbert as the two players to win in both singles and doubles. Prinz won his first and third sets by identical 6-1 scores.
Men's tennis is in the midst of four straight home matches to close out the month of March after adding a date with the University of the Sciences at the end of this month. However, up next will be a match against La Salle on Wednesday at 4 p.m. That match will be the Fords' final tune-up before Centennial Conference action gets started next weekend.