SWARTHMORE, PA. - Competing in their penultimate Centennial match of the season, the No. 21 Swarthmore men's tennis team took down Washington College by a score of 8-1 on Tuesday, Apr. 18.
The Garnet rolled through their doubles matchups, sporting a comfortable 3-0 lead headed into singles. Keeping up their winning ways, Swarthmore saw victory in five of six singles matches, securing their dominant 8-1 win.
Michael Melnikov earned an impressive ranked-win against one of the region's toughest opponents. He also set a program record for singles victories as a freshman.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles:
- While the Shoremen put up a fight, managing to make all three matches competitive, the Garnet ultimately came out on top, with the duos of first year
Utham Koduri/first year Melnikov (8-4), first year
Max Lindstrom/junior
Rushil Patel (8-4) and sophomore
Max Pogorelov/first year
Andres Fente (8-5) all capturing points for Swarthmore.
- With the three victories, the Garnet carried a 3-0 lead into singles play.
Singles:
- The Garnet continued their dominance of Washington College in their singles matchups, with Melnikov (6-3,6-4), Lindstrom (6-2,6-4), Koduri (7-6,6-4), first year
Lalith Suresh (6-3,6-3) and first year
Aamish Pal (6-3,6-3) all closing out their contests in straight sets.
- In besting his opponent in the No. 1 seeded match, Melnikov, ranked third in the Atlantic South Region, took down Karl Hoegstedt, the eighth best player in the region.
- The most competitive match of the day came in the No. 5 slot, where senior
Josiah Myers-Lipton was forced to three sets. After dominating the first set 6-1, Myers-Lipton stumbled in the second, falling 6-3. The third set tiebreaker went the distance, with Myers-Lipton ultimately falling in the tight back-and-forth battle 1[10]-0[8].
- Despite the one loss, the Garnet still emerged from the contest with a resounding 8-1 win, improving to 6-0 in conference play.
UP NEXT
A late-season addition, the Garnet will host Messiah University on Friday, Apr. 21 at 4:00 p.m.
