March 21, 2010

Box Score

FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team picked up a pair of wins Saturday at Mary Washington to improve to 4-2 on the season. Hopkins opened the day with a 9-0 win over Averett and then defeated 11th-ranked NC Wesleyan 8-1, giving the Battling Bishops their first loss of the season. The Blue Jays win over the Bishops is their third over a ranked opponent this young season.

Hopkins opened the match with NC Wesleyan, by sweeping all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Jacob Barnaby (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) and junior Casey Blythe (Louisville, KY/St. Xavier) defeated Artsiom Prostak and Marcelo Prata, 8-3, at second. Senior David Maldow (Jericho, NY/Jericho) and junior Andrew Wang (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) then won at first, beating Antti Saari and Anton Filonov, 8-4. Sophomore Warren Elgort (New York, NY/Trinity) and junior Ryan Rauck (Columbus, OH/Bexley) won a close 9-7 match at third over Alexey Rumyantsev and Clayton Sonn.

In singles action, Hopkins swept the top five spots to account for the 8-1 final. Elgot picked up a straight sets win at third, beating Rumyantsev 6-2, 6-2. Wang also won in straight sets over Kalle Nikunen at second, 6-4, 6-4. Sonn picked up the Bishops lone point with a 6-3, 6-2 win at sixth over junior Will Grist (Charlotte, NC/Heritage Academy (SC)). The Blue Jays other three wins came in three sets. Maldow won his first set easily, 6-2, over Saari before dropping a tight 7-6 set in the second. Maldow came back to win the third, 6-4, and take the match. Freshman Andy Hersh (Valrico, FL/Newsome) battled back after losing his first set at fourth, to win 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 over Fred Lemongo. Barnaby also fought back after losing his first set, to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 over Prostak at fifth.

Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, March 24 against 13th-ranked Kalamazoo in the Blue Jays' home-opener. The match is slated to begin at 3:00 pm.