HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team continued its winning ways during the Centennial Conference opener Saturday with an 8-1 victory against Gettysburg. Haverford (5-1, 1-0 CC) won two of the three doubles matches to hold a slight edge over the Bullets (5-4, 0-1 CC). The Fords then increased their intensity with a clean sweep of all six singles matches to put an exclamation point on their fifth consecutive victory.
Shuffling the doubles lineup, Dais Nakayama and Josh Moskovitz were each one of three winners in both singles and doubles on Saturday. Playing in the top doubles position, the young combo was an 8-3 winner in the No. 1 position. Ishaan Prinz and Caleb Mayer were 8-5 winners at No. 3 doubles. The closest match of doubles competition ultimately fell the way of Gettysburg with the Bullets claiming a 9-7 victory in the middle pairing.
Zack Mason made the quickest work of his singles match. Playing No. 6 in the conference opener, Mason allowed just one game during the opening set and used a dominant 6-0 second for his straight set victory. Moskovitz allowed the second fewest games in singles to complete his 2-0 record after an earlier doubles victory. The Fords' freshman won in straight sets with an identical 6-2 score in each set.
Luis Acaba and Nakayama each conceded just five games at the top of the lineup for Haverford. Acaba moved into his usual No. 1 slot for singles and came out on fire with a 6-1 opening set. He completed his day with a 6-4 second set. Nakayama reversed those set scores to secure his second win of the day coming off of a doubles victory. Nakayama pulled through in a tight 6-4 first set before cruising with a 6-1 win in the second.
Harrison Elbert joined the lineup at No. 4 singles and hit the ground running with a 6-2 win in his opening set. The Fords' co-captain found himself locked in a five-all second set before holding and breaking serve in the 7-5 set that was the final straight set victory of the afternoon.
Prinz was the third and final Haverford player to record wins in both singles and doubles during the Centennial Conference showdown. However, he would need a decisive third set to do so. After a hard-fought tiebreak defeat to start his day at No. 5 singles, the sophomore rolled through the final two sets with 6-1 and 6-0 scores to cap the successful conference opener.
Men's tennis will be back on its home courts this Monday in a newly-scheduled match against the University of the Sciences. First serves for that match are set for 4 p.m.