April 2, 2006

LANCASTER, PA - The Johns Hopkins men's tennis team earned a much needed win over Franklin & Marshall in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays shutout the Diplomats 7-0 to improve to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play. The Diplomats fall to 3-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

Hopkins started out strong, sweeping all three doubles matches to take the first point of the match. Sophomore Joe Vasoontara (Bangkok, Thailand/Loomis Chaffee) and junior Hillen Smith (Baltimore, MD/Boys Latin School of Maryland) earned their first doubles win in conference action. The duo beat Andrew Mayer and Ben Michelman 8-1 at the #1 spot. Sophomores Rafael Roberti (Summit, NJ/Summit) and Kevin Ma (Parkville, MO/Park Hill South), playing together for the first time, earned an 8-2 win. The pair defeated Charles Alston and Alex Levy at the #2 spot. And at the #3 doubles spot, sophomore Matt Naftilan (Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell Academy) and senior Mike Kelly-Sell (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer) remained unbeaten (3-0) with an 8-4 win over Seth Cruice and Dave Janerich.

In singles action, Hopkins continued to dominate play, sweeping all six matches to take home the win. Vasoontara earned his first win of the season beating Levy 6-0, 6-1 in the #1 spot. Smith, playing at #2, beat Mayer 7-6, 6-1 for his first conference win. Roberti remained unbeaten at 3-0 when playing in the #3 spot with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Michelman. Ma moved to 2-0 in conference play at #4 with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Cruice. Wei won easily over Ben Hart, 6-1, 6-0. Naftilan beat William McGuiness 6-0, 6-2 at the #6 spot.

Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, April 2 at The College of New Jersey. The match is set to begin at 3:00 pm.