CLAREMONT, CA – Johns Hopkins dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker, in a match decided by a third-set tiebreaker, to second-ranked Denison in the NCAA Quarterfinals Monday at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. The Blue Jays finish their season at 16-8 while the Big Red improve to 25-2 and advance to Tuesday's national semifinal.
 
Denison grabbed the doubles' point to take the early lead in the match. Andreas Chapides and Nick Meyers earned the first win of the quarterfinal with a 6-2 win over Marco Azar and Mukundh Boopathi at number three. Ethan Green and Kael Shah, ranked second in the nation, then clinched the point when they beat Daniel Ardila and Dylan Blenkiron, 6-3, at one. Number two doubles, between Allen Gong and Chakor Rajendra and Colin Gramley and Jacob Patterson, was tied at four when doubles' play halted.
 
Shah put the Big Red up 2-0 when he beat Ardila 6-2, 6-2 at number two singles. The Blue Jays roared back with wins at four, six and one singles to grab a 3-2 lead. Gong got Hopkins on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chapides at four singles. Azar then tied the match at two when he defeated Anthony Payiavlas 7-5, 6-3 at six.
 
Rajendra gave Hopkins its first lead of the match with a three-set upset win over Green, ranked fourth in the nation. The duo split the first and second sets by the same 6-4 score and it was Rajendra who claimed the third and deciding set, 6-2, to take the match and put JHU up 3-2. The match would come down to courts three and five, both battling in the third set.
 
On court three, Patterson would halt the Blue Jays' streak of three straight wins and tie the match at three. He took the first set 7-6, but a 6-3 win by Blenkiron in the second sent the match to a third set. Patterson prevented the come-from-behind and kept his team alive with a 6-3 win in the third. All eyes turned to court five and a marathon match between Zahari Stoimenov and Meyers. Stoimenov grabbed the first set 7-6, but Meyers battled back to take the second 6-1 and force a deciding set. With a spot in the semifinals on the line, it was only fitting the set, and the match, came down to a tiebreaker. Meyers went up 5-3 in the breaker, but Stoimenov fought back to tie it at five. Meyers then grabbed the last two points to send his team onto the semifinals and a date with third-ranked Tufts.  
 
Hopkins is now 1-5 in NCAA Quarterfinals matches, with four of the six matches decided by one. This was the first meeting between the Blue Jays and the Big Red in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Rajendra, Ardila and Blenkiron's seasons will continue in the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship, which is set to begin on Friday, May 23.
 
Notes: Rajendra becomes just the ninth player in program history to win 20 singles matches in a season • Gong is now tied for 23^rd in program history with 81 career wins (37 singles, 44 doubles).