March 12, 2006

BALTIMORE, MD - In their first home match of the spring, the Johns Hopkins men's tennis team (1-1) rebounded from a tough loss at Methodist last week, for a 4-3 win over Salisbury.

The Blue Jays used wins at #1 and #2 doubles to take an early 1-0 lead in the match. Then wins at #2,3 and 4 singles proved to be enough for Hopkins first win of the spring.

Sophomore Joe Vasoontara and junior Hillen Smith beat Brendon Kincaid and James Mills 8-3 in the first doubles match. At #2, sophomore Rafie Roberti and junior Nick Kennedy teamed to beat Tim Mayberry and Tyler Robinson 8-6. Freshman Lawrence Lei and sophomore Matt Naftilan lost 8-5 to Sasha Felikson and Sean Larson at the #3 spot.

In singles play, Smith, Roberti and Wei won their matches to lead the Jays to a 4-3 win. Smith defeated Robinson in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. Roberti won easily 6-0, 6-2 over Mills at #3 and Wei defeated Larson 6-2, 6-3 at #4.

Vasoontara fell at #1 to Kincaid 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. Felikson defeated Naftilan 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 at #5. And in the final match of the day, that lasted until 60:30 Mayberry hung on to beat senior Mike Kelly-Sell. Mayberry won the first set 6-2, but Kelly-Sell bounced back to win the second 7-6 and forcing a super tiebreaker. Mayberry hung on to win 14-12 with the match nearly called because of darkness.

Hopkins returns to action on Friday, March 17 at Swarthmore in Centennial Conference action. The match is set for 3:00 p.m.