Feb. 21, 2014
Box Score
MAYFIELD VILLAGE, OH - The 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team opened the spring season on a strong note with a 6-3 win over sixth-ranked Emory in the opening round of the 2014 ITA National Team Indoor Championship. The Blue Jays (1-1) earn their first win in five meetings against the Eagles (2-2) and advance to the semifinals for the first time in four appearances at the championship.
Hopkins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match by sweeping the doubles. Juniors Tanner Brown and Erik Lim earned an 8-2 win over Jackson Isaacs and Nick Szczurek at second doubles. Freshmen Michael Buxbaum and Emerson Walsh pushed the lead to 2-0 as they defeated Ian Wagner and Rafe Mosetick, 8-6, at first. Wagner won the NCAA Division III Doubles Championship last year. Sophomore Nicholas Garcia and junior Noah Joachim completed the doubles sweep as they won 8-3 at third over Eric Halpern and Alex Ruderman.
Brown earned a straight sets win at second singles to stake Hopkins to a 4-0 lead. He beat Mosetick, 6-3, 6-3 to earn his 40th career singles win. Halpern earned the Eagles' first point of the match with a win at third. Junior Ben Hwang won the first set 7-6, but Halpern rallied to win the second 7-5 and then the third 6-4. Ruderman pulled Emory within two points with a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Buxbaum at first. Freshman Jeremy Dubin then clinched the win at fourth singles. He won the first set 6-2, but Szczurek bounced back to take the second 6-3. Dubin responded with a 6-4 in the third set to pick up Hopkins' fifth point of the match. Wagner then made it a 5-3 match with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lim at fifth. Junior Sam Weissler closed out the win for the Blue Jays with a come-from-behind win at sixth. He dropped the first set, 6-3, to Will Adams but rallied to win the second 6-1 before winning a super tiebreaker in the third.
Hopkins will face host and 13th-ranked Case Western in the semifinals on Saturday at 11:00 am. The Spartans upset the fifth-ranked Kenyon Lords in the opening round.
