SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The No. 13 Swarthmore College men's tennis team played a pair of matches on Saturday and came out victorious in both. The Garnet opened their Centennial Conference schedule with a 9-0 road shutout at Muhlenberg College while the rest of the squad picked up an 8-1 win over New York University at the Mullan Tennis Center.
At Muhlenberg, Swarthmore swept the doubles matches before dropping just seven games in singles competition. The Garnet also went 6-0 in singles against NYU. Swarthmore took two of the three doubles bouts, with the only loss coming in a tiebreak.
HOW IT HAPPENED (at Muhlenberg)
- The Garnet made quick work of their opponents at second and third doubles, with
Phil Rehwinkel and
Aadhi Raja teaming up for an 8-1 win followed by
Rishi Verma and
Kevin Jiang earning an 8-2 triumph.
Aamish Pal and
Andres Fente were taken to a tiebreak at the top spot but did not concede a point in coming out on top.
- Verma cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory at third singles while Pal claimed first singles by the same score. Fente also had little trouble at the second position, taking the match 6-2, 6-1.
- With the match in hand, Rehwinkel, Raja, and Jiang played abbreviated matches at the fourth through sixth spots and surrendered just two games combined in grabbing a trio of wins.
HOW IT HAPPENED (vs. NYU)
- Swarthmore's top doubles team of
Michael Melnikov and
Utham Koduri improved to 6-1 on the year with an 8-4 victory to begin the match.
Rushil Patel and
Max Lindstrom gave the Garnet a 2-0 lead with an 8-4 win at the third flight.
Andres Fente and
Winston Zhang battled to a tiebreak at second doubles but came up short.
- Melnikov won a tight opening set, 6-4, at first singles before cruising to a 6-2 victory in the second set. It was the opposite for Lindstrom at the second position. He took the first set handily, 6-1, before eking out a 6-4 decision in the second set.
- Patel clinched the match for Swarthmore at third singles. He took the opening set in a tiebreak before winning the second, 6-3. Verma came out on top in an abbreviated match at sixth singles, 8-5, before Zhang and Suresh completed the singles sweep for the Garnet with straight-set triumphs at fourth and fifth singles respectively.
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (4-0) takes on another nationally-ranked squad when No. 22 Carnegie Mellon University comes to town on March 2.
