May 16, 2010
Box Score
BALTIMORE, MD - The 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team suffered a heartbreaking 5-3 loss to 11th-ranked NC Wesleyan on a hot Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Sweet 16. The Blue Jays finish the team portion of their season with a school-record 21 wins, finishing at 21-6. The Bishops (18-1) move on to the NCAA Quarterfinals with top-ranked Middlebury.
Hopkins took a 3-0 lead in the match by sweeping all three doubles. Sophomore Jacob Barnaby (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) and junior Casey Blythe (Louisville, KY/St. Xavier) took the first point for the Blue Jays with an 8-5 win at second over Marcelo Prata and Artsiom Prostak. Sophomore Warren Elgort (New York, NY/Trinity School) and junior Ryan Rauck (Columbus, OH/Bexley) then pushed the lead to two with a 9-8 (7-2) win at third over Clayton Sonn and Alexey Rumyantsev. Senior David Maldow (Jericho, NY/Jericho) and junior Andrew Wang (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) followed with a come-from-behind 9-7 win at first over Anton Filonov and Ramon Pardo Garcia to complete the sweep.
In singles action, the Bishops began chipping away at the Blue Jays' lead. Fred Lemongo got things going for NC Wesleyan with a 6-4, 6-3 win at third over Elgort. Sonn then trimmed the lead two just one with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Barnaby at fourth. Rumyantsev followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win at second over Wang to tie the match at 3-3. That left first, fourth and sixth singles still on the court. Prostak gave the Bishops their first lead of the match, winning a tough 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 decision over freshman Andy Hersh (Valrico, FL/Newsome) at fourth. Maldow and Vale, the Blue Jays' two captains, each forced third sets in their matches to keep Hopkins in the match. Maldow had fallen in the first set, 7-5, to Kalle Nikunen, but rebounded to win the second, 6-2, and force a deciding set. At sixth, Vale also lost his first set but rallied with a 6-2 win in the second to force a third set. Vale led in the third, 5-3, but began suffering cramps before Prata came back to win the set, 7-5, and the match for NC Wesleyan. The match at first singles was halted with Nikunen leading Maldow, 5-3.
Barnaby finishes the season with 25 doubles wins, becoming the first player in program history with back-to-back 25+ win seasons in doubles. Vale finishes his career with 38 singles wins, ranking him sixth in program history. He also racked up 58 total wins, good for 10th all-time. Maldow's and Wang's seasons will continue as the pair will compete at the NCAA individual championship. Maldow has been selected for the NCAA Singles Championship for the fourth straight year. He will also compete in the doubles championship with Wang, the pair's second straight trip to the championship. The winningest player in school history, Maldow enters the championship with 80 singles wins, 68 doubles wins and 148 total. Wang, has 56 career doubles wins, including 15 this season, and ranks third in school history. The singles and doubles championship is scheduled for May 28-30 and will be hosted by Oberlin College.
