HAVERFORD, Pa. – A split of the singles matches after forging a lead in doubles enabled the Haverford College men's tennis team to defeat 26th-ranked Franklin & Marshall College, 5-4, in a Centennial Conference match Saturday afternoon on the Fords' Bramall Courts.

Doubles wins at Nos. 1 and 3 gave the Fords (9-5, 5-2 CC) a 2-1 lead against the Diplomats (5-7, 4-2) before heading into singles action. Haverford nearly swept the doubles points but F&M was able to steal a win at No. 2 over the Fords' Matthew Cebul and Matt Romei by a score of 9-8, (10-8).

Kevin Caulfield, Jacob Weisenthal and Cebul clinched the match victory for Haverford with singles wins at Nos. 1, 5 and 6, respectively.

Caulfield, who had teamed with Danny Himelstein at 1-doubles for the Fords' first point of the day, picked up his second point with  a straight-set singles victory over F&M's Ross Silverberg.

Weisenthal defeated Eric Rouff in straight sets for another Haverford point, and Cebul quickly downed the Dips' Samuel Stone (6-1, 6-2) at No. 6 singles.

The other doubles win for Haverford came from the pairing of Will Garrett and Natty Sergay who disposed of Cameron Relic and Parint Lertdumrikarn by an 8-2 count at No. 3.

F&M, ranked seventh in the Atlantic South region of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Division III regional rankings, had defeated Haverford, ranked 12th in the Atlantic South, the previous two seasons.

Haverford welcomes Ursinus College (10-8, 0-6 CC) to campus on Monday, April 16 for its next conference match-up.