SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Rebounding after a tough loss in the first dual match of 2023, the Swarthmore men's tennis team took down Centennial rival Muhlenberg College 9-0, and New York University 7-2 on Saturday, Feb. 25th.
HOW IT HAPPENED - MUHLENBERG
Doubles:
- Starting off the day in dominant fashion, the Garnet secured three straight perfect wins in doubles play, taking a comfortable 3-0 lead over the Mules heading into singles.
- Swarthmore's duos meshed perfectly together, seeing wins out of the squads of sophomore
Kevin Jiang/first year
Utham Koduri (8-0), senior
Josiah Myers-Lipton/senior
Minh Nguyen (8-0) and junior
Phil Rehwinkel/senior
Hellman Zhao (8-0).
Singles:
- The Garnet carried their momentum into the singles matches, establishing a truly commanding hold on the match. Swarthmore swept all six matches in straight sets, with Myers-Lipton (6-0,6-0), Zhao (6-0,6-0), Nguyen (6-0,6-0), Rehwinkel (6-0,6-0) and first year
Michael Melnikov (6-0,6-0) all not allowing their competition to win even a single game.
- Swarthmore's only semblance of a contest came in the No.3 seeded match, where first year
Aamish Pal dropped two games to his opponent. Pal recovered nicely however, closing out the first set 6-2 and the second 6-0, taking his match and securing Swarthmore their 9-0 victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED - NYU
Doubles:
- Picking up right where they left off against the Mules, the Garnet came roaring out the gate against NYU, seizing wins in all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead over the Violets.
- While the duos of Koduri/sophomore
Graham Hadesman and sophomore
Max Pogorelov/first year
Andres Fente made quick work of their competition in the No.1 and No.3 seeded matches, closing them out 8-2 and 8-4 respectively, the hardest fought battle came in the No.2 seeded match. The pair of Melnikov/junior
Rushil Patel dueled their Violet opponents for nearly ten minutes longer than the other two contests, eventually going into tie breakers where they outlasted their foes for a final score of 8[7]-7[2].
Singles:
- Remaining perfect on the day, Melnikov took the No.1 seeded match in just 43 minutes, downing his opponent 6-0,6-0 to put the Garnet up 4-0.
- First year
Max Lindstrom extended Swarthmore's lead to 5-0 in the No.2 seeded match, shutting out his opponent 6-2,6-1.
- While the Violets did come out on top in the No.3 and No.4 seeded matches, the Garnet rebounded nicely in the No.5 and No.6 matchups, with first year
Lalith Suresh (8-3) and Pal (8-3) taking down the competition in quick succession.
UP NEXT
Traveling to California for Spring Break, the Garnet will take on Hope International University on Monday, Mar. 6th at 3:00 p.m. PST.
