EWING, N.J. – The Haverford College men's tennis was edged out of a nationally-ranked win via a 5-4 setback at No. 30 TCNJ on Wednesday evening. The Fords (3-4) trailed 2-1 following doubles after forcing all three of those matches to go into tiebreaks. That ultimately provided just a little foreshadowing into what resulted in a thrilling back-and-forth battle against the Lions (7-0). Three of the singles matches also went to a third set, but once again the Lions were able to come away with two of those victories and escape with the team win by the narrowest of margins.
Haverford's win in doubles came from the No. 3 pairing of Nick Sweeney and Arnav Patodia. As was the case in each of the doubles matches, the Fords and Lions evenly split the first 14 games. Haverford's third doubles team was able to come up with a 7-4 win in the tiebreak to grab an early point. Nevertheless, TCNJ took the overall advantage after doubles by winning No. 1 doubles with a 7-5 score in the tiebreak. No. 2 doubles also went to the hosts as they won 7-2 in that tiebreak.
The Fords came roaring back in singles with Kevin Yan and George Jiang each grabbing straight set victories. Yan wrapped up his match at No. 2 singles with a 6-4, 6-1 victory. The Fords' co-captain is now 4-3 in singles this spring with a 7-5 overall record for the season. Jiang allowed just four games total to his opponent at No. 3 singles, winning that match by a 6-3, 6-1 score. Haverford's first-year is now 5-2 this spring in singles and 9-4 overall. TCNJ was able to tie the team score at three-all as Arnav Patodia was able to force an extra game in his second set before falling at No. 6 singles.
With three matches on court that were all headed to decisive third sets and the team score tied at three-all, both teams prepared for a thrilling finish. TCNJ snatched the first of those final three matches that were up for grabs. Nick Sweeney had jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a 6-3 win during his first set. However, his opponent turned the tables during the final two sets. Josh Moskovitz evened the match again with his 10th win overall this year, running his spring dual record to 4-3. Moskovitz was down a set early after a hard-fought 6-4 opener, but bounced back with a convincing 7-1 tiebreak win during the second. Haverford's co-captain then put together the most convincing set of his match, winning the third by a 6-3 margin.
Haverford was on the brink of victory at No. 4 singles as Pranav Krishnan went up early on his opponent with a 6-4 win to begin that singles match. No. 4 singles was tied at five-all during the second before the Lions grabbed the final two games of that set to force the decisive third. Krishnan held numerous set points during the second set as Krishnan was holding a 5-3 lead. TCNJ raced out to a 4-1 lead in that deciding set and never looked back as the hosts came away with a 5-4 team victory.
Men's tennis will have the upcoming weekend away from competition before returning home next Wednesday to square off with another nationally-ranked opponent in No. 38 Stevens. First serves in that match are scheduled for 4 p.m.