Tennis finishes 7-4

The Hopkins men's and women's tennis teams finished the 2004 season on a positive note with a strong showing at the Centennial Conference Championships last weekend. The meet was held in Haverford, Pa. Three Hopkins tennis players advanced to the quarterfinals: freshman Priya Puri, junior Michelle Liang and senior Justin Chan. They all advanced to the second day of competition in singles play. Sophomore Michael Kelly-Sell and senior Grant Roch also competed in the quarterfinals as a doubles team.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was Puri's performance, as she beat Franklin and Marshall's Barbara Bee 7-6, 1-6, 6-3. Bee had defeated Puri in two sets during the regular season. Puri then astounded second-seeded Gena Ross of Muhlenberg with a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (10-4) victory to advance to the quarterfinal round. Puri managed to pull off the only upset of the qualifying round. Puri was eliminated in the quarterfinals on Saturday with a loss to Melissa Sviatko from Dickinson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

Junior Michelle Liang joined Puri in the quarterfinal round. Liang was seeded seventh and began Friday with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Bryn Mawr's Ianan Butio, and went on to defeat Dickinson's Erica Tobias. However, Liang had to face No. 1 seeded Anjani Reddy of Swarthmore in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Reddy defeated Liang 6-0, 6-0.

The final women's singles player with a win at the Championships was sophomore Amanda Leese. Although unseeded in the tournament, she won her first match 6-3, 6-1 against Bryn Mawr's Bertina Hu. She was then eliminated in the round of 16 by fourth-seeded Caroline Celano of Swarthmore, who won in straight sets 6-0, 6-2. Liang teamed up with captain Cara Loeys in doubles play, but the two lost in the opening round by a score of 8-1 to Lizzy Deneberg and Bee from Franklin & Marshall. Freshman Meghan Hasenauer and sophomore Jill Seidman also competed in the doubles tournament, but they also lost 9-7 to Jennifer Dubrow and Katie Gaskins of Franklin & Marshall.

Justin Chan was the lone singles representative of the men's team in the quarterfinal round on Saturday. He was not seeded in the tournament, but managed to win his first two matches. In the quarterfinals, third seed Carl Lederman of Haverford defeated Chan in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.Kelly-Sell won in the opening round of singles, beating Dan Lindenberg of Franklin & Marshall 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-2. He fell short of the quarterfinals, however, losing to Maciek Prytula of Washington College 6-3, 6-0.

Kelly-Sell and senior Grant Roch beat Dickinson's Rob Isaacs and Chris Beegle 8-6 in the first round, but they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by second-seeded Harrison Lee and Aaron Scherb of Haverford by a score of 8-4.