HAVERFORD, Pa. – George Jiang has been named the Centennial Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week after helping Haverford to its first nationally-ranked win since the 2016 season. Jiang was a perfect 2-0 in singles against No. 40 TCNJ and No. 31 Stevens this past week while also winning his doubles match during the team's victory against the Ducks.
Jiang's player of the week honor is the second of his career after previously earning this honor during his first-year at Haverford. Returning to his spot at No. 3 in the singles lineup for the spring season, Jiang picked up a crucial three-set victory against Stevens to help the Fords win that matchup by a 6-3 final. After dropping a hard-fought opening set, Jiang went on to win by a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (2) score behind a pair of tiebreaks. He also teamed up with Pranav Krishnan at No. 2 doubles for the victory against Stevens, emerging with a tiebreak victory, 8-7 (6), during that battle as well. During Haverford's victory against Stevens, five of the six singles matches went to a third set while two of three doubles matches were decided in tiebreaks.
Haverford's sophomore started his week with convincing 6-0, 6-2 straight-set victory against TCNJ. Jiang is leading the Fords with a team-best 7-2 singles record so far this year and is riding a four match winning streak. He is also tied for the team lead with five doubles victories. Jiang earned second-team All-Centennial Conference honors in both singles and doubles during his rookie campaign along with being named to the conference's all-sportsmanship team.
After opening the spring season with a pair of nationally-ranked opponents, the schedule does not get any easier as the Fords prepare for California where they will battle nationally-ranked teams in three of the team's five matches. Up first will be a matchup with No. 33 RPI on Tuesday, March 10. That match will get underway at 10 a.m. on the west coach (1 p.m. EDT).