The Basics
• Score: #12 Johns Hopkins-5, #28 Swarthmore-3
• Records: JHU (19-1) • SC (15-7)
• Location: Baltimore, MD • JHU Tennis Courts
• The Short Story: The 12^th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team grabbed two of three doubles points and three of five decided singles points to knock off 28^th-ranked Swarthmore, 5-3, in the Centennial Conference title match Sunday afternoon.
 
How it Happened
• Hopkins jumped out to a 2-1 lead as the Blue Jays grabbed points at second and third doubles; all three doubles matches were tightly contested.
• The Blue Jays grabbed an 8-6 win at third as Rohan Reddy and Brian Wang prevailed for Hopkins, but the Garnet tied things up moments later with an identical 8-6 win at number one from Grant Dill and John Nichols-Daly.
• With the all-important one-point lead after doubles on the line, the Blue Jays' number two team of Vishnu Joshi and Marco Azar found themselves down early and still trailing 6-3 before rallying to tie things up at 7-7 and force a tie-breaker.  There, the Blue Jays went up 3-0 on Rushil Patel and Charley Force before Patel and Force rallied to tie it at 4-4.  From there, Joshi & Azar scored the final three points to grab the 8-7 (7-4) victory.
• In singles, the teams traded points with Noah Criss evening things up at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at number six for the Garnet, only to have Hopkins' Thomas Yu polish off Force 6-0, 6-3 moments later to make it 3-2 Hopkins.
• Azar battled back from an early 3-0 deficit in the first set to win 7-5, 6-1 in the number five spot before Phil Rehwinkel kept the Garnet alive with a 6-1, 7-5 win at four over Brian Wang.
• With the Blue Jays down a set at three, Joshi secured the title with a two-set win at number two.  After easily taking the first set (6-1), he found himself down to Patel 4-1 in the second, before rallying for a 7-5 win that sealed the victory for the Blue Jays.
 
What it Means
• Johns Hopkins claims its league-record 14^th Centennial Tournament title and 16^th overall Centennial Championship.  The Blue Jays are now 14-1 all-time in Centennial title matches and 29-1 all-time in the CC Tournament.
• The Blue Jays improved to 11-0 all-time against Swarthmore in the Centennial Tournament.
• Hopkins' 19 wins under Brendan Kincaid are one shy of the school single-season record and the most ever by
first-year Blue Jay men's tennis coach.
• Joshi was named the CC Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
• Yu's win at first single was his 50^th combined win of the season (26 singles / 24 doubles); he is the first player in program history to record 50 victories in one season.
 
Up Next
• Hopkins earns the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  The bracket for the 2022 NCAA Division III men's tennis championships will be announced on Monday (May 9).
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