ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team picked up its second straight Centennial Conference victory on Tuesday evening with a 5-0 win at Muhlenberg. Playing the match to decision, the Fords (6-2, 2-0 CC) clinched the team victory in the minimum five matches.
Haverford swept through doubles and is now a combined 17-4 across all three doubles positions after Tuesday's results. The most convincing victory in doubles from Tuesday's match came from the No. 2 pairing of Raja Arul and Nick Sweeney. After its victory at No. 1 doubles against McDaniel on Saturday, the Arul/Sweeney team kept its perfect mark together intact with an 8-1 win in the No. 2 spot of the lineup.
Kevin Yan and David Kong played together for the first time since the fall season. They were an 8-6 winner in the top doubles match. That victory marked their second together with the other coming during the fall ITA Regional Tournament. Caleb Mayer and Arnav Patodia teamed up for the first time in their careers and emerged 8-5 winners at No. 3 doubles. Mayer is now 2-0 in Centennial Conference doubles matches this spring while Patodia was making his spring doubles debut on Tuesday.
Wins in the top two singles matches clinched the team victory for Haverford. David Kong won in straight sets at No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Kong has now racked up 10 straight wins to start his 2017-18 season. Tonight's victory marked the highest he has played in the lineup this spring. Kevin Yan needed a 10-point tiebreak to seal the team victory. He jumped out with a 6-2 first set victory. After dropping the second set, he came through with a 10-5 victory in the tiebreak. Yan's win marked his first appearance at No. 1 singles this spring.
With the match in hand, the Nos. 3 through 6 singles players of Raja Arul, Nick Sweeney, Caleb Mayer, and Arnav Patodia did not contest singles following their triumphs in doubles on Tuesday evening.
Men's tennis continues its busy week with three more home matches. The Fords will be back at home tomorrow against TCNJ for a 4 p.m. start. Haverford will also host No. 25 Case Western Reserve (Friday, 4 p.m.) and No. 22 Kenyon (Saturday, 9 a.m.) to close an action packed week on the courts.