The men's and women's tennis teams took to the courts this past Saturday for their last regular season matches. The 12th-ranked men's team beat visiting Haverford 8-1 to clinch the Centennial Conference regular season title. It was the 29th consecutive conference win for the Blue Jays as they completed their third straight Centennial Conference season unbeaten. The men improve to 13-3 overall and 9-0 in the conference. On the women's side, the ninth-ranked Lady Blue Jays also beat Haverford 8-1 to secure their own third straight unbeaten Centennial Conference season. The Lady Jays, who have won 30 straight conference matches, improve to 11-3 overall and 10-0 in the conference.
The men swept all three doubles matches to take an early 3-0 lead in the match. Freshman Jacob Barnaby and sophomore Casey Blythe won 8-3 while freshman Warren Elgort and sophomore Ryan Rauck then won their match 8-5 at third. At first, Alex Buxbaum and Thomas Kinrade were up 7-1 over junior David Maldow and sophomore Andrew Wang before the two came back to win eight straight games to take the match 9-7. For Maldow it was the 106th win of his career, tying Joe Vasoontara's ('08) school record for total wins.
Coach Willenborg, who has been putting a considerable emphasis on doubles this season, was impressed with the teams for sweeping the doubles matches and setting the tone of the matches early on. "Maldow and Wang were down 7-1 and came back for a 9-7 win against a very good Haverford team. We played strong throughout the singles and were able to win five of the six singles matches," Willenborg said.
In singles action, Wang improved to 19-2 on the season with a 7-5, 6-3 win at second over Kinrade. At third, Elgort won his match 7-5 and 6-2 for his 16th win of the season. Barnaby ran his win streak to 11 with a 6-3, 7-5 win at fourth over Rudolph. At fifth, freshman Orlando Ferrer dropped just three games in beating Stephen Feder. Blythe turned the same trick at sixth in his win over Yang.
For the women's team, junior Anita Bhamidipati and sophomore Yasmine Elamir put Hopkins on top at 1-0 with an 8-1 win at second. Junior Ellen Berlinghof and sophomore Abby Dwyer then won at third with an 8-2 win. It was their 10th straight win and their 13th win of the season, a team best. Senior Brittany Matava and freshman Carolyn Warren then wrapped up doubles play with an 8-3 win at first.
In singles play, freshman Mallory Willenborg won her eighth straight match with a 6-3, 6-2 win at third. Matava ran her winning streak to 11 with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Porter at fourth. Dwyer did not drop a game in her win at fifth over Drooyan. And at sixth, junior Dory Giannos won 6-4, 6-3 to close out the match.
Coach Willenborg was pleased with the performance of the tennis teams this weekend.
"We had worked very hard to be in the position of playing for home court advantage for the conference tournament," Willenborg said. "We were very focused and were able to win some tough matches and secure the first seed in the tournament for both teams. We will see these teams again next weekend, so I thought it was important to play well and get some confidence and momentum going into the championships. The teams are well prepared for the upcoming championship and confident that they will handle the pressures of being the top seed."
The Lady Jays, who are the seeded first, will host the four-team Centennial Conference tournament Saturday and Sunday in Baltimore. Hopkins will face off against fourth-seeded Haverford in the semi-finals. The women are seeking a third straight Centennial Conference Tournament title. The men's team also earned a top seed and will host the Centennial Conference tournament next weekend.
The Jays will face off against fourth-seeded Washington College on Friday and are seeking their third straight and fourth overall Centennial Conference title.
