GRANVILLE, Ohio and SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The No. 8 Swarthmore College men's tennis team split a pair of matches on Saturday. The Garnet fell to No. 1 Denison University, the reigning national champion, on the road by a 5-2 score but edged out Division I Loyola University Maryland at home, 4-3.
DENISON 5, SWARTHMORE 2
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Denison swept doubles play with three 6-4 victories. The Big Red bested the teams of
Utham Koduri/
Michael Melnikov,
Andres Fente/
Kai Chen, and
Max Lindstrom/
Winston Zhang.
- Melnikov claimed a point for Swarthmore, winning his match at first singles 6-4, 6-4. It was his 47
th career victory at No. 1 singles, breaking the program record previously held by Garnet Hall of Famer Steve Brown.
Max Lindstrom took the opening set at the second spot, 6-1, but dropped the next two, 4-6, 0-6, to the Big Red's two-time NCAA singles runner-up as Denison regained the advantage.
-
Rishi Verma battled through three sets but ultimately fell 2-6, 6-2, 2-6 at the fourth position and the Big Red led 3-1. It became 4-1 when
Nikola Galov dropped a 6-1, 6-7, 4-6 decision at third singles.
- Denison defeated
Seth Sadikov at the fifth flight, 6-2, 6-2.
Andres Fente salvaged another point for the Garnet to close the match, coming back for a 3-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8) success at sixth singles.
SWARTHMORE, 4, LOYOLA (MD) 3
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Greyhounds took two of the three doubles bouts for a 1-0 lead. Loyola earned close wins over
Nicholas Choo/
Aadhi Raja 7-6 (7-3) at first doubles, and
Fate MacAlasdair/
Cameron Samek 7-5 at third doubles.
Dylan Hayes Gilbert and
Aamish Pal teamed up for a 6-3 Swarthmore victory at the second spot.
- Pal grabbed a 6-3, 6-2 triumph at third singles but Loyola took the match at the second flight in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 against Raja. Gilbert dropped the opening set at first singles, 2-6, but bounced back to win 6-1, 6-3.
- The Greyhounds bested Choo at the fifth spot, 7-6, 6-1 but the Garnet recovered to claim the match on victories by Samek, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 at fourth singles, and
Terry Wu 7-5, 6-4 at sixth singles.
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (2-3) hosts No. 10 Amherst College on Sunday.
