TOWSON, Md. - Playing in a non-conference excursion for a nationally ranked showdown on a neutral site at Goucher College, the No. 28 Haverford College men's tennis team (11-5) looked poised in dispatching Christopher Newport (9-8) by a 5-4 final on Saturday afternoon.
The doubles portion of the afternoon favored the Captains, as Christopher Newport jetted out to the 2-1 lead as George Jiang and Stefan Johnson came up short to the regionally-ranked No. 5 pairing of Ryan Macy and Alec Strause in a tiebreaker 8-7 (7-3). The squad of Patrick Kley and Adam Chow then delivered a hard-fought victory for the Fords, a relatively straightforward 8-4 dispatching of Ahun Vodela and Ashton Legum at the number three pairing. At the second flight, it was Mason Kolls and Paul Baron squeaking past Jason Edmonds and Justin Minerva to send CNU to singles up 2-1.
Haverford started singles strong looking to quickly erase the deficit, with Chow making quick work of Legum in a 6-1, 6-1 victory to tie the overall match at 2-2. Haverford took the lead for good with Johnson's 6-3, 6-0 win over Vodela, and George Jiang posted his second consecutive regionally ranked win, taking down the region's No. 9 player, Ryan Macy by a 7-5, 6-1 decision. Earlier this week, Jiang grabbed a win over the region's No. 8 player, Karl Hoegstedt of Washington College. Those two triumphs were battles for the Haverford senior, but Jiang has looked well in charge as he has done just enough for those two huge wins, reversing the doubles decision earlier in the day Saturday after his midweek sweep of doubles and singles action.
On the brink of a match win, Haverford relied on a big win from James McKenzie at number six singles, as he was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Mason Knolls to hand the Fords another win over a ranked opponent. With the match decision in hand for the Fords, Alec Strause slipped past Wingert in a superbreaker at the second flight and Eddy Porsmyr Hansen took down Danny Loder 6-4, 6-3.
Haverford will now return to Pennsylvania to wrap up Centennial Conference regular season action with trips to Muhlenberg (April 26) and Gettysburg (April 30) on the docket for the final week of action before the Centennial Conference tournament.