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Season Review: Men's Tennis Makes Ninth Straight Playoff Appearance

Season Review: Men's Tennis Makes Ninth Straight Playoff Appearance
Posted: May 23, 2019

Signature wins: The Haverford College men's tennis team got its 2019 spring season started with a bang as the Fords defeated New York University by a 5-4 score back in early March. Although it does not go into the record books as a nationally-ranked victory (as the national raters had not yet moved NYU into the top 40 with the polls in flux during the first weeks of the season) the Violets did move up to No. 36 in the national rankings later in the year. That result was just one example of many throughout the spring season which highlighted the fact that the Fords can compete with the nation's top teams. First-year George Jiang clinched the match at No. 3 singles with his three-set victory and Josh Moskovitz upset the No. 50 player in the country as the Fords took the top three singles and first two doubles matches against the Violets. The win against NYU was Haverford's first since 1923 as that series had gone dormant from that point up until the 2017 season. The Fords finished with a 13-8 overall record, just one win shy of the program record set in 1994. Haverford nearly matched that previous win mark with a narrow 5-4 defeat to then-No. 30 TCNJ and a 6-3 setback against then-No. 38 Stevens despite three new players entering the varsity lineup in a full-time role this spring.

Season Notes: Haverford went 13-8 overall in head coach Brendan Kincaid's first season as head coach, just missing the program record of 14 team victories which was set in 1994 … Kincaid led the Fords to a 7-2 record in Centennial Conference play and was named coach of the year following the season … Each of Haverford's setbacks during the 2019 season came to teams that were ranked in the national poll at some point during the spring … The Fords have now made the Centennial Conference Tournament in nine straight seasons and 13 of 14 years since the tournament's inception in 2006 … Haverford has made it to at least the semifinal round of the Centennial Conference Tournament during each of its playoff appearances, advancing to the championship match in 2007, 08, and 13 … Josh Moskovitz was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year, becoming just the second Ford to ever earn that distinction (Thomas Kinrade '09; 2008) … Moskovitz was also the Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year in 2016 and finishes his career as a four-time All-Centennial Conference performer in both singles and doubles … He earned first-team All-CC recognition during each of the last three years for singles and each of the last two years for doubles … His 49 career singles victories and 42 career doubles victories rank sixth and eighth in program history, respectively … Haverford finished the year ranked No. 12 as a team in the latest ITA Atlantic South Region Team poll … Moskovitz was ranked No. 11 individually for singles in the rankings where he also joined Kevin Yan to form the No. 14 ranked doubles pairing … Yan was named the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, an award bestowed upon the junior or senior with the highest cumulative GPA among players who earn All-Centennial Conference recognition … Haverford placed seven student-athletes on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll as each of its eligible All-CC players garnered recognition for their work in the classroom as well … Nick Sweeney was also named an Ambler Scholar-Athlete for having one of the top 16 GPAs among senior student-athletes at Haverford.

Awards:

Looking ahead: The Fords have an obvious hole to fill with the graduation of Centennial Conference Player of the Year Josh Moskovitz who played No. 1 during each of the last three seasons. Nick Sweeney will also graduate after playing No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles. However, the Fords do return their Nos. 2-4 in the lineup with an All-Centennial Conference performer in each of those slots with Kevin Yan, George Jiang, and Pranav Krishnan. Arnav Patodia also won double-digit matches playing No. 6 in the singles lineup. In addition to a new group of first-year student-athletes arriving on campus this fall, Haverford will be boosted by three members of its junior class who are returning from spending their entire junior years abroad: David Kong, Raja Arul, and Rob Kresch. Kong was a first-team All-CC selection in doubles and a second-team honoree in singles during his sophomore campaign, while Kresch and Arul both have over 20 combined singles and doubles wins to their resumes from their first-year and sophomore campaigns with the Fords.

Scoreboard
  • Sat, 04/27 | Men's Tennis at Dickinson (Cancelled) RC
  • Wed, 04/24 | Men's Tennis at Ursinus W, 8-1 (Final) RC | BX
  • Sat, 04/20 | Men's Tennis vs. Franklin & Marshall W, 5-4 (Final) RC | BX
  • Fri, 04/19 | Men's Tennis vs. #18 Johns Hopkins L, 8-1 (Final) RC | BX
  • Wed, 04/10 | Men's Tennis at #10 Swarthmore L, 8-1 (Final) RC | BX