HAVERFORD, Pa. - In a Centennial Conference and Hood Trophy rivalry matchup inside Alumni Field House, visiting Swarthmore (6-3, 3-0 CC) defeated homestanding Haverford (5-6, 2-2 CC) by a final score of 6-3. Swarthmore, ranked No. 28 nationally and No. 8 regionally, took an early lead by winning all three doubles matches and held on despite a strong showing from the Fords in singles play on Thursday.
Michael Melnikov and Utham Koduri defeated James McKenzie and Stefan Johnson 8-3 in the first doubles match to reach conclusion, followed by the pairing of Andres Fente and Max Pogorelov's 8-3 win over Abhinav Nallapareddy and Aiden Kim in the third doubles match. In the second flight doubles match, Max Lindstrom and Rushil Patel defeated Adam Chow and Justin Minerva 8-2 to send things into the singles portion of the afternoon.
In singles competition, Swarthmore's Michael Melnikov, ranked #10 nationally to open the season and the reigning CC Player of the Week, defeated Haverford's Stefan Johnson 6-4, 6-0 in the first singles match. Haverford's Aiden Kim won a hard-fought match against Swarthmore's Lalith Suresh 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 in the third singles match, prevailing in the superbreaker, while James McKenzie defeated Josiah Myers-Lipton 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in the fourth flight match after prevailing in a second-set tiebreaker.
Swarthmore's Max Lindstrom defeated Andreas Wingert 6-3, 6-3 in the second flight singles match, followed by Utham Koduri's 8-5 win over Justin Minerva in the fifth position. In the sixth singles match, Adam Chow defeated Aamish Pal 8-4 as the final two matches were decided in a single pro-set due to the four-court format indoors as Haverford looked to dodge some fast approaching inclement weather forecasted for Thursday.
Despite the loss, Haverford's efforts were noteworthy against the rival Garnet. The team put up a tough fight against a nationally ranked opponent, and their three wins in singles play showed their resilience and determination as the jam-packed April slate continues.
The Fords will look to build on this effort as they continue their season on Saturday, heading to No. 9 Johns Hopkins for a 2 p.m. first serve in Baltimore. Last season, Haverford handed the Blue Jays their first loss in Centennial Conference play in exactly six years, snapping Johns Hopkins' 41-match win streak in CC play with a 5-4 triumph.