HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team notched its second victory against an NCAA Division I opponent this spring with an 8-1 win against La Salle on Wednesday. The Fords (4-1) have now won four straight matches heading into their Centennial Conference opener this weekend against Gettysburg.

Haverford started the match with a sweep of all three doubles positions and never looked back. At both the first and third slots, Haverford doubled up the visiting Explorers with 8-4 margins. Harrison Elbert and Luis Acaba took the top slot, while Kevin Xu and Keisuke Sawada were the victors at No. 3 singles.

The closest win during doubles action came from Eli Phelps and Nick Sweeney. That No. 2 tandem came away with an 8-6 victory in the middle doubles slot.

The Fords also grabbed five straight set victories in singles play. Competing at No. 1 for the first time in his young career, Josh Moskovitz won each of his first three games before his opponent was forced to retire with an injury. At No. 6 singles, Dhario DeSousa allowed just one game in the second set during his first win of the spring.

The Fords also had very impressive showings during three more straight set wins. Zack Mason conceded just three games to his opponent with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4. Elbert dropped just four games over his two sets in a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles. The straight set winners were capped off by a 6-3, 6-2 victory from Xu at No. 5 singles.

Even in the lone match of the afternoon that Haverford was unable to seal, the Fords still forced a 10-point tiebreak. Ishaan Prinz forced that decisive 10-point tiebreak at No. 3 singles with a 6-4 second set win; however, he was denied the victory by a 10-8 score in the tiebreak.

Men's tennis will now turn its attention to the Centennial Conference schedule. Conference play gets underway this weekend with a match against Gettysburg that is scheduled for 1 p.m.