| Box Score 3 SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Swarthmore College men's tennis team opened its fall schedule with matches against Hamilton College, Vassar College, Stevens Institute of Technology and NYU at its home Swat Invite this weekend. 

The Garnet went 25-4 in singles competition with a 12-4 doubles record. First-year standouts Nicholas Choo and Dylan Hayes Gilbert helped lead the way with a combined 7-0 singles record for the tournament. Michael Melnikov and Max Lindstrom also dominated doubles action with a perfect 4-0 mark. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Swarthmore Athletics (@swatathletics)

SWARTHMORE vs. HAMILTON
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Melnikov/ Lindstrom opened doubles action with an 8-5 victory over Hamilton. The pairing then went on to win their respective singles matches. Melnikov bested his opponent, 6-3, 6-4, while Lindstrom won 7-5, 6-2. 

- Winston Zhang/ Kai Chen handled business in doubles with an 8-2 decision. The pairing then carried their success into singles competition. Zhang beat his challenger 6-4, 6-2, while Chen won 6-3, 6-1. 

- Gilbert/ Aadhi Raja prevailed in doubles play with an 8-6 win. Gilbert then picked up another victory over Hamilton with a 6-2, 6-3 singles win. 

- Max Pogorelov/ Choo earned the team's fourth doubles victory, 8-4, in a sweep against Hamilton. Choo then gutted out a tightly-contested singles win, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4. 

- Lalith Suresh cruised to victory with a 6-1, 6-3 win in singles action. 

SWARTHMORE vs. VASSAR
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Melnikov/ Lindstrom were victorious in doubles action, 8-4, against Vassar for their second win of the tournament. Gilbert/ Raja also picked up a doubles win, 8-4. 

- Pogorelov/ Rishi Verma gave Swarthmore a 3-1 doubles advantage with an 8-7 win. Verma then impressed in singles action with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 decision. 

- Suresh captured his second win of the tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 decision over Vassar. 

- Zhang and Choo both picked up another singles victory against Vassar. Zhang beat his opponent, 6-2, 6-2, while Choo bested his challenger, 6-4, 6-0. 

- Aamish Pal and Kevin Jiang bounced back with singles victories over Vassar. Pal won 6-3, 7-6, while Jiang held on for a 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 victory. 

SWARTHMORE vs. STEVENS
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Melnikov/ Lindstrom continued to roll through their competition with an 8-2 win over Stevens. Lindstrom also picked up a singles win, 7-5, 6-3 over the Ducks. 

- Zhang/ Chen held off their challengers for an 8-5 win. The pairing then carried its success into singles action with two more victories. Chen outlasted his opponent, 7-6, 6-1, while Zhang won 6-1, 6-4. 

- Pogorelov/ Verma earned another doubles win with an 8-4 decision. Verma went on to capture another singles win, 6-2, 6-1. 

- Suresh won his third-straight singles match with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. Choo also earned another singles win, 6-1, 6-1, for his third of the tournament, while Gilbert picked up his second singles win, 6-1, 6-3. 

SWARTHMORE vs. NYU
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Melnikov/ Lindstrom closed out the tournament with their fourth victory. The pairing remained perfect with an 8-4 win over NYU. Melnikov then battled back for a hard-fought singles victory, 4-6, 7-5, 12-10, to post a 6-0 overall record for the tournament. 

- Verma remained perfect in singles action with his third win of the tournament. The sophomore beat his challenger, 6-2, 6-3.

- Choo won his team-leading fourth singles match with a 6-3, 6-0 win over the Violets. Gilbert also clinched a perfect singles record with a 6-3, 6-0 decision for his third win. The first-year duo was a combined 7-0 in singles action. 

- Choo/ Benjamin Wang earned a doubles split with an 8-4 win. Choo was a combined 6-0 between doubles and singles action. 

- Pal picked up his second singles win with a 6-2, 6-4 decision. The junior went 2-1 for the tournament. 

UP NEXT
The Garnet return to action next week at the ITA Regional Tournament.