SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team wasted no time jumping right into some of the toughest competition it will face all season as the Fords started their spring campaign against No. 24 Whitman and No. 28 Christopher Newport as part of the Swarthmore Invitational. Haverford nearly ended the day with a win against Christopher Newport, falling by a 5-4 decision. The Fords fell to Whitman by a 7-2 score during the morning session.
Haverford grabbed one of the three doubles matches against the Captains as Raja Arul and Nick Sweeney were 8-6 winners at No. 3 against Christopher Newport. Eli Phelps and David Kong were edged out by that same 8-6 score at No. 2 doubles.
Exacting some revenge in singles action, both Phelps and Josh Moskovitz bounced back from setbacks in doubles. Phelps rolled to the win at No. 4 singles against the Captains as he allowed just four games in his 6-1, 6-3 victory. Moskovitz, playing No. 1, had the headline grabbing victory of the day as he took down No. 49 Justin Cerny. Moskovitz won seven of the nine points in the first set tiebreak before cruising to a 6-3 win in the second.
Ishaan Prinz also pushed the Fords towards the brink of victory as he won 6-3 in his first set before also playing a tiebreak. Although he needed far more points to settle the set, the end result was still a Haverford win with Prinz claiming a 9-7 tiebreak victory. Christopher Newport got straight set victories at Nos. 3 and 6, but it was the Captains' three-set victory at second singles that ultimately clinched the match.
In the earlier matchup against Whitman, Haverford also won the point at No. 3 doubles with Rob Kresch and Arnav Patodia claiming the most convincing win of doubles action by an 8-3 score. In singles, Arul came through with his second team point of the match as he won a 10-point tiebreak to claim the third singles match. Patodia also forced a tiebreak during his No. 6 singles match.
Men's tennis will be back in action next Saturday as the team hosts New York University for its home opener. First serves in that match are slated for 1:30 p.m.