CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The Haverford College men's tennis team came through with a 5-4 win at Washington College to improve to 3-0 in the Centennial Conference on Wednesday night. The Fords (5-6, 3-0 CC) had three matches that were headed to decisive third sets to try and clinch that elusive fifth point. They would do so as junior co-captain Ishaan Prinz emerged a 7-5 winner at fifth singles to overcome the Shoremen (7-2, 1-1 CC).
The Fords started out strong with a pair of wins in doubles. The regionally-ranked pairing of Josh Moskovitz and Dais Nakayama won its fifth straight match together. The duo's latest win came via an 8-3 score. At No. 2 doubles, Raja Arul and David Kong paired up for the second time and moved to 2-0 together on the season with an 8-4 victory. The Shoremen sealed their lone doubles point with an 8-6 victory in the third position.
Singles play was hotly contested throughout the evening as three of the six matchups went to a third set. Kevin Yan, playing No. 3 singles, avoided any tiebreaks with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 score, improving to 2-0 in conference action. However, the Shoremen answered back with a 6-4, 6-2 win in the top singles match.
Eli Phelps put the Fords on the brink of victory as he emerged a 6-2, 7-5 straight set winner at No. 4 singles. Phelps now has a team-leading seven wins on the year in singles and is 2-0 against his Centennial Conference opposition. Once again, WAC was quick to respond and came through with a three-set win at No. 2 singles despite Nakayama forcing the third set with the momentum of a 6-2 win in the second set.
With just two matches remaining on court, Prinz was able to force a decisive third set at No. 5 singles with a 6-2 set win during the second. He needed extra games to settle his match but emerged a 7-5 winner in that set to seal the team victory. The co-captain's win matched Phelps for the team lead in singles victories with seven. Arul had also just forced a third set at No. 6 singles. However, he retired after Prinz had locked up Haverford's victory.
Men's tennis will now return home this Saturday, April 8 to square off with Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats are currently a half match ahead of the Fords for the top spot in the Centennial Conference with a 4-0 record. The Fords are joined by Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore at 3-0 as those four teams are the last remaining unbeaten teams in conference action.