Men's Tennis Starts 2019 with Thrilling 5-4 Victory vs. NYU

Josh Moskovitz
Josh Moskovitz

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team exacted some revenge against a pesky foe Saturday as the Fords came away with a strong 5-4 win against visiting New York University. The Fords (1-0) were making their spring debut before departing for California and will now have a long enjoyable flight after defeating a Violets (2-2) squad that handed them hard-fought 6-3 setbacks during the past two seasons. In a series that dates back to the program's earliest days, today's victory snapped a two-match losing skid in the all-time series as the Fords' latest victory had come in 1923 prior to Saturday.

Although it was a strong close to the day in singles that punctuated the Fords' victory, Haverford did get the early jump by winning two of the three doubles matches. Josh Moskovitz and Kevin Yan started their strong days off together with an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles. Those two were playing their first match together since appearing at the ITA quarterfinals during the fall. George Jiang and Pranav Krishnan notched another 8-6 win for the hosts at No. 2 doubles. Haverford's second pairing is now 6-1 together dating back to the fall season. The Violets did grab one of the three doubles points with an 8-1 victory at No. 3 doubles against Arnav Patodia and Nick Sweeney.

Haverford kept the momentum rolling into singles play. Josh Moskovitz put together a tough performance against the No. 50 player in the country, defeating him in straight sets. Moskovitz opened the top singles match with a 6-2 win in the first set before closing out his nationally-ranked foe with a 6-4 win during the second set. Haverford's senior co-captain is now 7-1 in singles this season. Kevin Yan also carried over his strong play into singles as he conceded just three games total at No. 2 singles. Yan blanked his opponent in the opening set and won 6-3 in the second to put the Fords on the brink of victory with his fourth singles win of the academic year.

NYU made the team score 4-2 with a hard-fought victory at No. 4 singles. Nevertheless, first-year George Jiang stepped up in huge fashion to deliver the clinching team point. Jiang found himself down a set early, falling 6-3 in the first. Quickly shaking off that tough result, Jiang rallied back with a 7-5 win in the second. He then capped Haverford's team victory with a 6-4 win the decisive third set to give the Fords that decisive fifth team point. That match loomed even larger in the final score as the Violets claimed Nos. 5 and 6 singles. Those two matches were the final matches to hit the courts inside the Alumni Field House.

Starting off the year 1-0, Haverford will now set its sights west as the Fords depart from California on Sunday. While on the west coast, the Fords will play five matches over the course of four days. The team will return to competition this Tuesday, January 12 against Redlands.