March 30, 2006

HAVERFORD, PA - The Johns Hopkins men's tennis team fell to 0-2 in Centennial Conference play Wednesday night in a 5-1 loss to host Haverford. The Blue Jays are 1-4 overall on the season.

The Blue Jays started out strong, winning two of three doubles matches, to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles play. Junior Nick Kennedy (Tucson, AZ/Deerfield Academy) and sophomore Rafi Roberti (Summit, NJ/Summit) earned their first win together at #2. The duo beat Marc Adelberg and Tad Henry 8-4. At #3, senior Michael Kelly-Sell (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer) and sophomore Matt Naftilan (Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell Academy) improved to 2-0 together. They beat Marc Rudolph and Elmar Trust 8-5. At the #1 spot, Alex Buxbaum and Thomas Kinrade were up 5-4 on junior Hillen Smith (Baltimore, MD/Boys Latin School of Maryland) and sophomore Joe Vasoontara (Bangkok, Thailand/Loomis Chaffee) before the Hopkins duo retired.

Haverford bounced back in singles play, sweeping Hopkins to take a 5-1 win. Even Stiegel defeated Vasoontara in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 at the #1 spot. Roberti also lost in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 to Trust at the #2 spot. At #3 sophomore Kevin Ma (Parkville, MO/Park Hill South) had his match against Kinrade called due to darkness. Ma had won the first set 7-5, but Kinrade was up 4-3 in the second. Buxbaum defeated freshman Larry Wei (Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) 6-3, 6-2 at the #5 spot. And at the #6 spot, Henry beat Kennedy 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (8).