FREDERICKSBURG, VA – Johns Hopkins beat a pair of top 25 teams on Friday at the Mary Washington Invitational. Hopkins opened the day with a 4-2 win over 22
nd-ranked Pomona-Pitzer and followed it with a 4-2 win over 12
th-ranked Swarthmore.
Hopkins grabbed 6-4 wins at two and three doubles to secure the doubles' point over Pomona.
Mukundh Boopathi and
Pranav Gadiraju won over Leo Rocca and Kiran Vairavanathan at two and
Dylan Blenkiron and
Brian Yi were winners at three versus Neil Chulani and Samuel English.
Chakor Rajendra lost just one game in his win over John Wehrle at three singles to put the Blue Jays up 2-0. Drew Goldman answered with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Blenkiron at one and it was a 2-1 match.
Allen Gong pushed the lead back to two when he won 6-2, 6-1 win at two over Rocca. Tanner Ige once again cut the deficit for the Sagehens with a 6-2, 6-2 win over
Jason Li at four. Boopathi then clinched the win when he won 6-4, 6-2 over Ethan Zou at five.
Hopkins then faced off against Swarthmore in the afternoon. The Garnet took the doubles' point with a 6-4 win at two and a tight 7-6 win at three. Gong and Rajendra did win 6-2 at one over Michael Melnikov and Purushotham Koduri.
Swarthmore then took a 2-0 lead in the match when Melnikov won 6-4, 6-1 at one singles over Blenkiron. It was all Hopkins from there as the Blue Jays won four straight singles matches to take the win. Gong got Hopkins on the boad with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Max Lindstrom at two. Boopathi then tied the match when he won 6-1, 6-2 over Lality Aditya Suresh at four. Li gave the Blue Jays' a 3-2 lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win at five versus Nikola Galov. Rajendra then secured the win with a close 6-4, 6-4 win over Rishi Verma at three.
Hopkins will take on the winner of eighth-ranked Washington University and ninth-ranked Carnegie Mellon on Saturday, April 11. The match is scheduled for a 2:30 pm start.
Notes: Gong is now tied for 10
th in program history with 54 career singles wins • Rajendra needs just one win to reach 100 combined wins in his career.
