HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team has been predicted for a third-place finish in the Centennial Conference following a preseason vote of the conference's head coaches. The Fords received 60 voting points in the poll. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Defending Centennial Conference Champion Johns Hopkins was selected as the preseason favorite with the Blue Jays receiving nine first-place votes. Swarthmore received the other first-place vote and finished second in the poll with 73 points. Franklin & Marshall, Washington College, and Dickinson followed the Fords and claimed the fourth through sixth positions in the poll after a very close vote.
Haverford returns a pair of All-Centennial Conference performers in Josh Moskovitz and Kevin Yan. Moskovitz already has made an impressive run to the quarterfinals of the ITA Regional Championship draw in both singles and doubles this fall. The senior has earned All-Centennial Conference honors in both singles and doubles during each of his first three seasons with the Fords, garnering first-team All-CC recognition in both for the first time in his career last spring. He is a two-time first-team honoree in singles (2017, 18) and earned that recognition once in doubles (2018), also earning CC Rookie of the Year honors during his outstanding career. Moskovitz went 6-1 in conference singles matches last year and was on his way to avenging his only conference singles defeat before the Fords' playoff match reached decision.
Kevin Yan teamed up with Moskovitz during the pairing's quarterfinal appearance at the ITA Regional this fall. Yan was a second-team All-CC performer in both singles and doubles during the 2018 season. He earned first-team All-Centennial Conference recognition in singles during his rookie of the year season in 2017. He played No. 2 singles last spring and has 20 wins in both singles and doubles throughout his career. Sophomore Pranav Krishnan also saw extensive time in the Fords' lineup last spring at No. 6 singles. Additionally, he is off to a 5-1 start in doubles after the conclusion of the fall season.
Men's tennis went 11-7 overall as a team in 2018 with a 7-2 record in Centennial Conference matches. In what was coach Sean Sloane's final season before his retirement, that record earned the Fords a third-place finish in the conference standings. Haverford has advanced to the Centennial Conference Tournament during 12 of the past 13 seasons, including each of the last eight seasons.
After a strong start to the year during the fall season, head coach Brendan Kincaid and the Fords will open their spring schedule on Saturday, March 2 at No. 37 Stevens. The home opener for the team is set for Saturday, March 9 against New York University before the team departs for California during the College's week of spring break. Centennial Conference play for Haverford begins on Saturday, March 30 with a key matchup at home against Dickinson.