FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - The Haverford College men's tennis team opened up play at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships at the University of Mary Washington on Friday morning, with the pairing of Marko Arboleda and Stefan Johnson advancing into the championship round of 16 for doubles while Arboleda also advanced to the round of 16 in championship singles.
Championship Doubles
After a first-round bye, the pairing of Stefan Johnson and first-year Marko Arboleda impressed with an 8-7(7-2) victory over a pair of Muhlenberg first years, August-Svyer and Sebastian Meyer, in the Round of 32. The pair will now compete in the Round of 16 against Hanyu Liu and Pranav Gadiraju of Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 8 a.m.)
The pairing of Kirin Eicher and James McKenzie fell to Jhyaden Pappas and Gianluca Beaujon of Salisbury 8-7 (9-7). The team of Adam Chow and Justin Minerva prevailed over Thomas Davis and Barrett Foster of Hampden-Sydney in a tiebreak, taking an 8-7 (7-5) win indoors. The pairing advanced to face Josh Rassin and Heys Parker of Washington & Lee, falling in yet another tiebreak 8-7(7-4).
Championship Singles
Arboleda put himself into the round of 16 as the first year had a very strong day of action on the courts. He took down Peter Leese of the host Eagles (6-2, 6-4) and then went toe-to-toe with All-American and former ITA South Regional Rookie of the Year Charley Force of rival Swarthmore. Arboleda prevailed 1-6, 6-3, 11-9, rallying as the marathon superbreaker went the way of the Fords newcomer.
Arboleda now faces Prem Dave of Johns Hopkins in the Round of 16 at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Andreas Wingert was a 6-4, 6-2 winner, prevailing in straight sets over conference foe Samuel Donnelly of Franklin & Marshall. Wingert advanced to face Daniel Kong of Carnegie Mellon, where he was dispatched, 6-2, 6-2. Johnson also took a three-set win over Vincent Truong of Christopher Newport (5-7, 6-4, 10-5), prevailing in the superbreaker. Johnson advanced to face James Kurani of Washington & Lee, and eventually dropped a 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 decision.
Aiden Kim was defeated by Rafael Rullan of Virginia Wesleyan (6-4, 6-4) in first round action. He will now face off with Winston Zhang of Swarthmore in consolation action on Saturday (11 a.m.).
B1 Singles
McKenzie was an 8-7 (7-4) winner over Albert Vladimirskiy of UMW, advancing to take on Jonathan Gu of Carnegie Mellon in the second round. Gu prevailed 8-6 to advance to the semifinals. Justin Minerva also dropped an 8-2 pro-set to Samvid Andhare of Stevens. He will now face off with August-Syver Meyer of Muhlenberg in the B1 consolation quarterfinals on Saturday (10:30 a.m.).