KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Senior Kevin Caulfield of Haverford College's men's tennis team earned his way past the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Singles Championship with a 2-1 victory over Ray Worley of Cal Lutheran University on Thursday afternoon, but Caulfield's visit would end later in the day when he dropped a straight-set match to the draw's No. 2 seed.
Making his first appearance at the national level Caulfield carried a 15-5 season record into the round of 32 against the Kingsmen's Worley who was 21-4 heading into the match.
The opening set went to Caulfield with a 6-4 win but Worley evened the match with a 6-3 set two victory. The deciding set started off evenly but Caulfield was able to win a service break and eventually rolled to a 6-3 win to move past the tournament's opening round.
His opponent in the round of 16, Adam Putterman of Washington (Mo.) University, came into the match well-decorated recently having been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 2013 men's tennis senior player of the year earlier in the week which followed the University Athletic Association's naming him its 2013 most valuable player.
The draw's second seed finally put an end to Caulfield's march in the tournament, downing the Fords' captain 6-0, 6-1.
Caulfield closes out his senior campaign with a 16-6 record. He helped lead the Fords into the Centennial Conference tournament final and was named first-team all-conference in singles for the fourth time. Caulfield last week was tabbed the ITA's Mid-Atlantic Region recipient of the Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award. He is also the conference's sportsmanship award winner.
Thursday's win over Worley gave Caulfield 57 career singles wins which is tied for second-most in program history.