HAVERFORD, Pa. – The No. 12 Swarthmore College men's tennis team came out on top in a battle of the final two unbeaten teams in the Centennial Conference on Friday, winning 7-0 at No. 16 Haverford College.
The Garnet needed a tiebreak victory at the second position to claim the doubles point. Swarthmore then swept all six singles matches.
Max Lindstrom,
Kai Chen, and
Andres Fente all recorded a pair of wins to lead the Garnet.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-
Winston Zhang and Lindstrom opened with a victory for Swarthmore, taking the bout at third doubles 6-3. The Garnet's top pair of
Michael Melnikov and
Utham Koduri suffered just their third loss of the year, falling 5-7. The point came down to the second spot where Chen and Fente pulled out a tough 7-6 (7-5) win to put their squad up one.
- Melnikov bounced back from the doubles defeat to earn a 6-0, 6-4 triumph at first singles. Lindstrom also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, at the second flight to give Swarthmore a 3-0 advantage.
- Fente cracked the lineup at sixth singles and moved to 3-0 this year with a 6-0, 6-4 success to clinch the match for the Garnet.
Aamish Pal was victorious at the fifth position, 7-5, 6-3.
- At fourth singles, Chen took the opening set, 6-4, but dropped the second, 4-6. The rookie won a third-set super tiebreak, 10-6, for his sixth consecutive victory.
Rishi Verma also played a tight match at the third flight and was the winner, 7-6, 6-7, 1-0 (10-4).
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (10-5, 4-0 Centennial) will split its squad across a pair of road matches on Saturday and take on Ursinus College and Dickinson College.
