Men's tennis sets sights on national tourney

By: Eric Goodman

Posted: 5/1/08

It was a festive atmosphere at Hopkins this past weekend, and the 15th ranked men's tennis team enjoyed a festive weekend in Baltimore as well, defending its Centennial Conference Championship title with 5-0 wins on consecutive days over Washington College and Haverford.

The Blue Jays entered the tournament as the number one seed, and faced the fourth-seeded Washington College Shoremen on Saturday in the semi-finals at Hopkins. The Jays blanked Washington 9-0 earlier in the season, and was looking to keep up the momentum they had built throughout the latter portion of the regular season, looking to remain undefeated against conference foes.

"We made sure to keep our focus knowing that beating a team twice in the same season is hard," said senior Rafael Roberti. "We knew they would come out strong. We just came out with more intensity. "

Hopkins's three doubles teams got the ball rolling on another shutout, as the three pairs lost a combined four games. Freshman Casey Blythe and senior Joe Vasoontara won 8-1 at first doubles, seniors Matt Naftilan and Roberti won 8-2 at third doubles, and sophomore David Maldow and freshman Andrew Wang won 8-1 at second doubles.

"Doubles are so important because they set the tone for the singles. Our team came out firing and took a quick 3-0 lead, so the momentum was on our side," Maldow said.

Wang then proceeded to win third singles 6-1, 6-0, followed by Roberti winning at sixth singles with a 6-1, 6-2 win, the 98th victory of his career. Since in the Centennial Conference tournament they play a best of nine series, Hopkins's five wins clinched a victory for them, halting the four other matches.

The championship finals on Sunday would pit Hopkins against Haverford, who the Blue Jays defeated 5-1 last year in Baltimore for the Centennial Conference crown.

But due to rainy and cold weather, the matches were moved from Hopkins's outdoor courts to the indoor courts at the Cross Keys Athletic Club, about three miles from Homewood.

"We had played on those courts a couple of times for practice. Being indoors definitely gave us more of an advantage over Haverford, but we were disappointed in not being able to play outside on our home courts, in front of our fans one last time," Roberti said.

The Blue Jays continued their domination in doubles against the Fords, dropping only five games in three matches. Blythe and Vasoontara shut out Haverford 8-0 in first doubles. Wang and Maldow won 8-2 in second doubles, and Naftilan and Roberti won 8-3 in third doubles. The win for Blythe was his 20th of the season in doubles, breaking the Blue Jays' single season record.

Blythe then continued his brilliant play in singles, blanking Marc Rudolph of Haverford 6-0, 6-0. The win was his 20th of the season in singles, placing him second on the Hopkins single-season win list behind Maldow, who broke the record earlier this season and has 23 wins. Wang then clinched the title in his singles match at third singles, winning handily 6-2, 6-0.

With the win, Hopkins earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where the team will participate for the third consecutive season. The Blue Jays are the second seed in their region and have received a first round bye and will play The College of New Jersey on Saturday, May 3. Last season the Blue Jays reached the Sweet Sixteen, and the team is looking to make it even further this year.

"We are really on a roll right now," Roberti said, "and I don't imagine much to change in terms of our practice routine. We'll be out on the courts two to three hours a day and get ready for the NCAA's."

Maldow concurs, and said "There couldn't be better timing for NCAA's, we're all ready to earn a trip to the elite eight."