The Basics
• Score: #26 Johns Hopkins-5, #27 Swarthmore-2
• Records: JHU (12-6), CC (14-3)
• Location: Baltimore, MD • JHU Tennis Courts
• The Short Story: The top-seeded Johns Hopkins women's tennis team won its 15^th consecutive Centennial Conference title with a 5-2 victory over second-seeded Swarthmore Sunday afternoon.
 
How it Happened
• The Blue Jays won two of three doubles points, grabbing victories in decidedly different ways in the first and second spots.
• Ali Bader and Emily Javedan made quick work of Danielle Pardon-Castillo and Sonia Varma with an 8-2 win at number two.  After Oviya Kumaran and Spencer Watts grabbed an 8-5 win at third, the key point came down to number one.
• There, Nathalie Williams and Crystal Xu, who entered the match ranked third in the region, seemed to be in control, only to find themselves forced to a tie-breaker by Christina Huynh and Aya Igaki-Meader.  Williams and Xu quickly went up 5-1 in the 'breaker and were up 5-2 before a double-fault opened the door for a rally that Huynh and Igake-Meader took advantage of.  They pulled even at 6-6 and broke a 7-7 tie by scoring the last two points to give the Blue Jays the all-important 2-1 lead after doubles.
• In singles, the Blue Jays got straight-set wins from Huynh at third (6-0, 6-3) and Amanda Ruci at fifth (6-2, 6-2) to go up 4-1.  A Jenny Lewis straight set win at one (6-3, 6-1) pulled the Garnet within 4-2 and Swarthmore was up a set at number three and the number six single match had just gone to a third set when the match was decided in the number two spot.
• Bader had won the first set at number two (6-3) from Varma and was up 4-3 in the second before grabbing the last two points to give the Blue Jays the 5-2 win. For her efforts, Bader was named the tournament MVP.
 
What it Means
• Johns Hopkins improves to 14-0 all-time in Centennial title matches and 28-1 all-time in the Centennial Conference Tournament.
• JHU has won 15 consecutive Centennial Conference titles (14 tournament titles / 1 reg. season title (no tournament in 2021)).
• The Blue Jays are now 31-19 all-time against Swarthmore, including 8-1 in the Centennial Tournament.
 
Up Next
• Hopkins earns the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  The bracket for the 2022 NCAA Division III women's tennis championships will be announced on Monday (May 9).
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