HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's tennis team swept Ursinus College by a 9-0 score Tuesday afternoon on the Bramall Tennis Courts. The win was the Fords (7-6, 5-0 CC) third sweep of a conference foe this year and their fourth sweep overall this season. The visiting Bears (10-4, 3-3 CC) came into the match ranked 17th in the region while the Fords are in the top 10.
The victory was also the 200th of head coach Sean Sloane's tenure as the men's tennis coach. In addition to his new milestone of wins on the tennis courts, Sloane also guided the men's squash team to 100 victories and the women's squash team to 51 victories in his time leading those programs.
Haverford got a quick start with a pair of 8-1 wins at the top two doubles positions. The regionally-ranked pairing of Josh Moskovitz and Dais Nakayama improved to 3-1 in conference play this year with their sixth win together of the spring. At No. 2 doubles, Ishaan Prinz and Kevin Yan remained unbeaten through their first three matches as a duo, including a 2-0 mark in conference action.
The Fords won No. 3 doubles as Rob Kresch and Arnav Patodia continued their impressive performances together. Kresch and Patodia won three of the final four games to secure the doubles sweep. That pairing is now 8-1 this season with a perfect 5-0 mark in the spring – including three conference victories.
After a strong doubles performance, the Fords backed that up by not dropping a set in singles play. At No. 4 singles, Raja Arul ran his conference record to 3-1 on the year (5-2 overall) as he did not allow a game to his opponent. Regionally-ranked Moskovitz and co-captain Prinz allowed just two games in their matches at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Both players had a 6-0 set wins with Moskovitz's coming in the first and Prinz's coming in the second. Prinz now has nine wins on the season and is a perfect 4-0 in conference action while Moskovitz is 8-5 overall with three wins against conference opposition.
In the Fords' final three wins, each player got stronger as the match wore on. Eli Phelps moved up to No. 2 singles and won by a 6-3, 6-1 score for his ninth victory of the year to match Prinz's 4-0 conference mark in singles. Nick Sweeney matched that scoreline at No. 5 singles and is now a perfect 3-0 in conference action. David Kong was also strong in singles, allowing just two games in his first set and one more in the second. Kong is now 3-1 on the year with a 2-0 mark in conference matches.
Men's tennis will next face one of the only other two unbeaten teams in Centennial Conference action as the Fords travel to Johns Hopkins on Saturday. That match is scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m. in Baltimore against the No. 20 Blue Jays.