LANCASTER, PA – The Johns Hopkins men's tennis team opened its spring slate with an 8-1 win over Franklin & Marshall in both teams' Centennial Conference opener. The Blue Jays took an early 2-1 lead and then won all six singles matches to take the 8-1 win.
 
Senior Daniel Ardila and junior Marco Azar gave JHU an early 1-0 lead as the pair beat Zac Ashtiani and Anthony Casale, 8-3, at number one doubles. F&M answered when Luke Brodsky and Campbell Gervais beat sophomores Allen Gong and Pranav Gadiraju, 8-6, at number three. The Blue Jays retook the lead as graduate students George Jiang and Mason Liu won 8-7 (3) over Gonzalo Gentou and Pedro Norte at number two.
 
Freshman Chakor Rajendra took the first point in singles and put JHU up 3-1 as he didn't lose a game against Soren Rudin-Aulenbach at number three. Liu then won 6-1, 6-4 over Gentou at number four to make it 4-1. Gong clinched the win with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ashtiani at number one.
 
Freshman Joshua Kim followed with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Samuel Donnelly at number five. Ardila then won at three-setter over Brodsky at number two to make it 6-1 Hopkins. He won the first set, 6-3, but Brodsky answered with a 6-4 win the second. Ardila then took the third set, 1-0 (3), to win the match. Azar closed out the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Daniel Feigelson at number six.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 24 against Pomona-Pitzer in Rocky Mount, NC. The match is slated to start at 10:00 am.

Notes: Ardila is now tied for 25th in program history with 44 career doubles wins • He also ranks 25th with 73 total career wins.