March 27, 2010
Box Score
BALTIMORE, MD - The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team picked up a pair of big wins on Saturday, defeating 22nd-ranked Washington & Lee, 7-2, and Muhlenberg, 9-0. The Blue Jays improve to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in the Centennial Conference.
Hopkins opened the match with wins at first and second doubles to take an early 2-1 lead. Senior David Maldow (Jericho, NY/Jericho) and junior Andrew Wang (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) defeated Alex Brooke and Jonathan Gaffney, 9-7, in a tight one at first. At second, sophomore Jacob Barnaby (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) and junior Casey Blythe (Louisville, KY/Saint Xavier) also had a close match, but prevailed 9-8 (7-3) over Will Hall and Mac Davis. The Generals avoided the doubles sweep with an 8-5 win at third as Jeremy Becht and Hayden White defeated sophomore Warren Elgort (New York, NY/Trinity School) and junior Ryan Rauck (Columbus, OH/Bexley).
In singles action, the Blue Jays won at the first five spots to take the match, 7-2. Wang picked up a straight sets win at second, beating Hall, 6-2, 6-1, for his 50th career singles win. Freshman Andy Hersh (Valrico, FL/Newsome) won at fourth by an identical score over Davis. Maldow and White met at first in a rematch of the 2009 ITA Southeast Regional title match. This time it was Maldow who came out on top, winning 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the match for the Blue Jays. Elgort won, 6-3, 6-3 over Becht at third and Barnaby won, 6-2, 6-3 at fifth over Cliff Gady. Freeman picked up the Generals' second point of the match, winning 6-2, 6-2 over sophomore Michael Chang (Winston Salem, NC/Forsyth County Day School).
In their other match, the Blue Jays opened their Centennial Conference title defense in dominating fashion over the Mules. Hopkins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match, sweeping all three doubles matches and dropping just one game in the process. Seniors Dan Myers (Chattanooga, TN/Collegiate School) and Peter Vale (Haverford, PA/Episcopal Academy) paired at first to beat Zach Adler and Jordan Rutt, 8-1. At second, freshmen Adam Mernit (Bayside, NY/Walt Whitman) and Garrett Mertl (Marietta, GA/Pace Academy) won 8-0 over Matt Kral and Wayne Mitchel. And at third, it was freshmen Morgan Dauer (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) and Jeffrey Kamei (Downey, CA/Troy) picking up the 8-0 win over Mark Apostolos and Robbie Goldwein.
In singles play, Hopkins swept all six matches in straight sets. Vale got things going, dropping just one game en route to a 6-0, 6-1 win at first over Rutt. Mertl won by an identical score at third, beating Adler. While Myers also dropped just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Apostolos at sixth. Dauer won his third straight match, beating Goldwein at second, 6-2, 6-2 at second. At fourth, Kamei won 6-1, 7-5 over Yoni Farber and Mernit won 6-1, 6-3 over Mitchel at fifth.
Hopkins, which has now won five straight overall and 30 straight conference matches, returns to action on Wednesday, March 31 against Dickinson. The Centennial Conference match is slated to begin at 3:30 pm in Baltimore.
