Johns Hopkins Men's Tennis last Saturday defeated Dickinson College, 5-2. The victory improved their record to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in their Centennial Conference.
Junior Kevin Alford won both his singles and doubles matches, in each of which he was the No.1 seed. Doubles pair Alford and freshman Justin Belisario opened up the match with an 8-4 win. The next seed of doubles, sophomore Justin Chan and senior Sion Roy, lost their matchup 8-1. Yet Hopkins earned the doubles point with an 8-4 victory by senior Ashish Lall and senior Ehran Bedistani.
In singles competition, Alford started things off with a leisurely 6-2, 6-2 victory versus Dickinson's No. 1 seed. Lall followed that up with a 6-4, 6-2 decision. Belisario assured the Blue Jays the win with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
"We knew that if we played the way we usually do, we would end up with a win," said senior Greg Gazzillo. "It would definitely be a misfortune if we had lost." Their next match, their home-opener versus Salisbury, was begun as scheduled on Tuesday but had to be rescheduled for Friday at noon due to the weather.
"They are a tough team, ranked regionally. But looking at the scores so far, its going to be a good match," said Gazzillo.
The scores so far are 5-5 at No. 1 singles, 6-5 at No. 2 singles. The team is down a set in the No. 3 & 4 seeds and up a set in the No. 5 & 6 singles matchups.
"We will have to play solid tennis to beat this team," said Gazzillo. "No gimmes here." The men's team's previous match versus Washington College was far less successful. The Blue Jays lost 7-0 to the Shoremen, No. 2 in the South Atlantic rankings. Alford fell in the No.1 singles and Roy lost at the No. 2 singles by identical 6-2, 6-3 scores. No. 3 seed Chan lost 6-1, 6-0 and No. 4 Lall lost 6-2, 6-0.
The Blue Jays should not feel too badly about their loss, as the Shoremen improved to 66-0 all-time in Centennial Conference play.
Women's Tennis used victories in their No. 3 through No. 6 singles matches to defeat Muhlenberg 5-4 last Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Lady Jays record to 4-2 overall and 4-1 in their Centennial Conference.
Freshman Vandna Jerath and sophomore Liz Crowe each picked up 6-1, 6-0 wins at the No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively. In other singles action, sophomore Cara Loeys came back from a set down to defeat her opponent 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 at the No. 4 and fresh Michelle Liang edged her opponent 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 5.
Muhlenberg was triumphant in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles, however. Hopkins' senior No. 1 seed Emily Petersen was defeated in her match 6-2, 6-1. Lady Jays No. 2 sophomore Lauren Shevchik was beat 6-1, 6-3. However, JHU victories in the other four singles rounds were more significant in attaining their overall 5-4 team victory.
Hopkins lost the doubles point due to losing two of three of the doubles matches. The only doubles victory for JHU on the day came from Loeys and Crowe in the No. 3 slot.
The Wednesday before, the Lady Jays faced Dickinson, whom they defeated handily 6-3. Petersen defeated her No. 1 singles opponent 7-6(1), 6-4. Hopkins also won the No. 4, 5 & 6 singles matchups as well as two doubles matches to add up to their 6-3 team win.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.