April 17, 2006

PITTSBURGH, PA - The #8 Johns Hopkins men's tennis team won its fourth straight match on Sunday, 4-3 over #5 Carnegie Mellon. The Blue Jays improve to 6-5 while the Tartans fall to 3-11.

Hopkins took a crucial 1-0 lead with wins at first and second doubles to start the match. The Jays opened with an 8-5 win at second doubles. Sophomore Rafi Roberti (Summit, NJ/Summit) and junior Nick Kennedy (Tucson, AZ/Deerfield Academy) paired for the win over Carl Yang and Jordan Koslosky. Hopkins secured the doubles point with an 8-3 win at first doubles. Sophomore Joe Vasoontara (Bangok, Thailand/Loomis Chaffee) and junior Hillen Smith (Baltimore, MD/Boys Latin), ranked #8 in the region, beat Stephen Kuhn and Yiran Liu. The Tartans did pick up a win at third doubles however. Dan Munoz and Andrew Clearfield beat sophomores Kevin Ma (Parkville, MO/Park Hill South) and Matt Naftilan (Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell Academy) 9-7.

In singles play, wins at first, second and sixth singles secured the 4-3 win for Hopkins. Vasoontara, ninth in the region, won in straight sets over #16 Yiran Liu 6-3, 6-4. Kuhn followed that with a win for Carnegie Mellon at third singles to make it 2-1. Kuhn defeated Roberti 6-4, 6-3. Smith came right back for the Jays with a three set win at second singles. Smith defeated #20 Clearfield 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to give the Jays a 3-1 lead. The Tartans tied it at 3-3 with wins at fourth and fifth singles. Koslosky won at fifth over Naftilan 6-4, 6-4 followed by Yang's 6-4, 6-2 win at fourth over Ma to tie it up. Freshman Larry Wei (Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) came up big for Hopkins with a three set win at sixth singles to clinch the win. After losing the first set 6-4 to Anthony Robinson, Wei won 6-2 in the second and 6-1 in the third.

Hopkins returns to action on Thursday, April 20 when the Blue Jays visit Washington College. The Centennial Conference match is set for 3:00 pm in Chestertown, MD.