CHESTERTOWN, Md. - The Haverford College men's tennis team (4-5, 1-1 CC) fell in a hard-fought battle to the Shoremen of Washington College (2-5, 1-0 CC) at the Schottland Tennis Center on Wednesday afternoon.
Despite a 6-3 loss, the Fords displayed some impressive performances, both in singles and doubles play. Although the Fords found themselves down early after dropping all three doubles matches, they fought back in singles competition to make things mighty interesting down the stretch in a battle of Centennial Conference playoff contenders.
In doubles, the Fords battled hard, but ultimately fell to a strong trio of Shoremen pairings. Stefan Johnson and partner Adam Chow had a few good rallies at first doubles, but couldn't quite keep up with the pace of their opponents in an 8-3 loss. Meanwhile, Justin Minerva and Aiden Kim fought hard at second doubles, but ultimately came up short against a solid Washington College duo of Jack Fanshawe and Landron Strober 8-2.
Christian Gruyon and Ryohei Kawai then got the better of Max Beckwith and James McKenzie in an 8-3 triumph at the third flight.
Moving into singles play, Andreas Wingert was bettered in a top-flight battle between regionally-ranked competitors. Karl Hoegstedt proved his mettle with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Wingert to put the Shoremen up 4-0 in the overall match.
McKenzie had a strong showing at fourth singles, dispatching his opponent in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 with his aggressive serve and volley game, staving off the clinch. Johnson then led the way with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory at the second singles spot, showcasing his consistent groundstrokes and crafty shot-making to pull the Fords within striking distance, down just 4-2.
Andre-Remi Jackobi clinched things with his three-set win over Aiden Kim (6-1, 4-6, 6-1), and Aaradith Ravichandran was victorious over Danny Loder at the fifth flight (6-1, 6-3) to reflect the sixth Washington College victory.
Minerva made a statement in his match at sixth singles, grinding out a tough two-set win in a tiebreak over Ryohei Kawai.
Although the tightly contested match didn't end in Haverford's favor, the Fords will look to build off these strong individual performances as they continue their season on Saturday, April 1, traveling to Gettysburg for a 1 p.m. first serve against the Bullets.