BALTIMORE, MD – The 11
th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's tennis team opened the spring portion of its schedule with a pair of road wins Sunday. JHU beat Franklin & Marshall, 7-2, in both team's Centennial Conference opener. Hopkins also beat Salisbury, 9-0, in non-conference action.
Hopkins opened the day in Lancaster and grabbed an early 2-1 lead after doubles. Juniors
James and
Thomas Yu beat Gonzalo Gentou and Isaac Rockower, 8-1, at first doubles. Freshmen
Allen Gong and
Pranav Gadiraju grabbed a hard-fought 8-7 (6) win over Luke Brodsky and Zac Ashtiani at second. And at third, senior
Andrew Tran and junior
Karan Belday lost a tight 8-7 (2) match to Daniel Feigelson and Pedro Norte.
In singles,
Thomas Yu dropped just one game in his win over Rockower at first.
James Yu won 6-1, 6-2 at second over Gentou. Gadiraju then defeated Ashtiani 6-1, 6-4 at third. Tran won 6-3, 6-4 over Brodsky at fourth. And at fifth, Gong defeated Norte 6-1, 7-6 (3). Tommy Hicks earned a second point for the Diplomats with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Belday at sixth singles.
Out on the Eastern Shore, the Blue Jays earned a sweep of the Sea Gulls. Graduate student
Joe DeMarco and junior
Daniel Ardila took an 8-2 victory over Gianluca Beaujon and Mitchell Desman at first doubles. Graduate students
George Jiang and
Mason Liu won 8-4 at second over Russell Willenborg and Jhayden Pappas. And at third, graduate student
Jonathan Zhang and sophomore
Marco Azar won a close 8-7(5) match over Aron Bursztyn and Gavin Reagle to give JHU a 3-0 lead.
The Blue Jays then swept all six singles matches in straight sets. Liu beat Beaujon 6-2, 6-3 at first singles and Ardila took a 6-2, 6-2 win over Pappas at second. DeMarco beat Willenborg 6-2, 7-5 at third and at fourth Zhang dropped just two games in his win over Christopher Catan 6-0, 6-2. Azar defeated Bursztyn 6-4, 6-1 at fifth and Jiang won 7-6 (4), 7-5 over Reagle at sixth.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, March 4 as the Blue Jays take on #8 North Carolina Wesleyan.
Notes: Thomas Yu moves into a tie for 16
th in program history with 44 career singles wins.
