Tennis proves ability to compete against D-I talent

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in their first tournaments of the school year to great success last weekend.

The men’s team split up and made appearances at both the Joe Hunt Invitational as well as the Loyola Invitational, going head-to-head with multiple Division-I schools. Meanwhile, the Hopkins women traveled to compete the ITA Regional Tournament in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

At the Joe Hunt Invitational hosted by Navy, 10 Hopkins players took part in six different draws.

In the Blue Singles Draw were freshmen Vishnu Joshi and Eric Yoo, who finished 10th and 14th, respectively. In the Red Draw, senior Justin Kang placed 15th. Senior David Perez and sophomore Vik Vasan placed 10th and 15th in the Orange Draw, respectively.

Sophomores Austin Gu and Cody Kim both went 2-2 in the Purple Draw. Sophomores Joseph Cartledge and Aaron Carey went 2-2 and 1-2 to place sixth and eighth in the Yellow Draw, respectively. Finally, sophomore Matt Sklar went 2-2 in the Green Draw, playing in round-robin format.

In a tournament with Division-I talent, having every player win a game is a great success for the young Hopkins team. This is also good news as the team prepares for the ITA Southeast Regional Tournament next weekend.

Meanwhile, the rest of the men’s team stayed closer to home for the Loyola University Invitational. The eight Hopkins players who went were split into four pairs and competed in both singles and doubles matches.

The freshman duo of Robby Simon and Matt Laurie lost their first three matchups but were able to finish the weekend strong with a win, securing 15th place.

Sophomore Charlie Humes and freshman Bryan Chu paired up to go 2-2 and placed 10th in the tournament. Freshman Jack Hogan and sophomore Nathan Safran also went 2-2 and finished in seventh.

However, the highlight of the weekend for the men’s tennis team was the duo of junior Colin Muraika and freshman Alex Matisse, who defeated players from Morgan State University, Mount St. Mary’s University and Loyola University to make it to the championship match.

“We trusted our singles ability to get us through the opening rounds,” Muraika said. “We built up our doubles confidence as we made it through the bracket. We knew we couldn’t afford to have an off-day against Division-I opponents.”

Though the duo was unable to walk away with the victory, it was proof that Hopkins can compete with Division-I schools.

“We have a lot of confidence going into ITA’s this weekend, and we know we have a lot of strong doubles teams going into the spring season,” Muraika said.

While the men’s team prepares for ITA’s this coming weekend, the women’s team competed in their ITA Regional Tournament this past weekend in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The Blue Jays had eight players compete in the championship draw, and five of those players won their first games. Sophomore Sophia Strickland and freshman Anjali Kashyap advanced to the round of 16.

Kashyap continued to advance, defeating three seeded opponents and making it all the way to the finals. She became just the second freshman in program history to make it to the finals of the ITA Southeast Singles Tournament.

“I didn’t set any expectations for myself. I just went out there to play and have fun,” Kashyap said. “I thought winning one match would be great, but I ended up finishing second, which was better than I could’ve imagined.”

Kashyap attributes her success to just focusing on one game at a time.

“I think having no expectations of winning or losing really let me play with an open mind and no nerves,” she said. “A lot of my opponents broke down or gave up while I kept grinding it out.”

This is the only tournament the women’s team competes in this fall, but there will be more excitement in the spring. Especially for Kashyap, who will be helping the team win another Conference Championship to push the team to a deep run in NCAAs.