While most Hopkins students were home enjoying a well-deserved, relaxing spring break, the Hopkins men’s tennis team began the first stretch of their season as they traveled to San Antonio, Texas during the week to take on two opponents. Many of the players on the team have been essential in securing a strong 6-2 record to start the season.
“We’ve found some great doubles combinations early in the year that have helped us to secure and dominate in some matches," senior Andy Hersh said. "It’s a good start, but we need to continue to improve against a strong schedule of opponents moving forward.”
True to Hersh's goal, the Jays enjoyed success at Texas and continued this winning pattern against Bates and Dickinson after returning home to Baltimore this past weekend.
The Jays, who were ranked eighth heading into their matches in Texas, started off spring break with a bang, dismantling the tenth-ranked Texas-Tyler Patriots, 7-2. Despite Texas-Tyler gaining an early advantage in the match, sophomore Tanner Brown and sophomore Erik Lim were victorious in the second ceded match, finishing strong with an 8-6 win. Shortly thereafter, seniors Andy Hersh and Jeff Kamei were able to come back to defeat the Texas-Tyler third-ranked doubles pair with a final score of 8-5, giving the Jays the lead heading into singles.
Sophomore Sam Weissler assembled a dominating performance, defeating his opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-0. Brown continued to perform admirably when he completed a 6-4, 6-3 victory at the second seed in singles, giving the Jays the 4-1 advantage in the match. The Patriots gained a point back on Hopkins as Hersh fell 6-2, 6-2 in a battle of two extremely talented top-ranked players. As a matter of face, Hersh and his opponent Ryan Ybarra both ranked in the top-20 for Division III players. Sophomore Ben Hwang got the Jays back on track and clinched the victory for Hopkins, conquering the third-ranked single match in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0. Sophomore Jensen Reiter and Lim both came from behind in their matches to eventually win in three sets after close tiebreakers, claiming the fifth and fourth ranked matches respectively.
“It was an overall team effort to say the least,” Hersh said. “Tanner Brown and Sam Weissler have stepped up tremendously so far this year and were vital in securing this victory along with the strong play of our doubles pairs.”
Two days after their strong performance against Texas-Tyler, the Blue Jays dropped a match to the seventh-ranked Trinity, the host of the tournament, as Trinity came from behind to win four singles matches in a row before prevailing 5-4. The men started off the day on a high note by demolishing the first and second-ranked Trinity pairs in doubles before Trinity got on the board with an 8-2 victory in the third ranked match against Hersh and Kamei.
Brown went on to give Hopkins a 3-1 advantage, securing a win at second singles 6-4, 6-2. Hersh then played zealously against Aaron Skinner, the top ranked player in the nation at Division III, before falling 7-5, 6-2. Hwang fell in the third singles match, which knotted the score of the match even at 3-3.
Trinity then took a 4-3 advantage, as Lim was defeated in straight sets 6-4, 7-6. However, Weissler rallied with another astounding performance, crushing his opponent in the sixth singles match 6-0, 6-1.
With the score dead even at 4-4, it all came down to the match between Reiter and his opponent. Reiter was unable to sustain a constant flow in his play and dropped the match 6-3, 6-2 setting Hopkins record down to 4-2 on the season as Trinity came out on top, edging the Jays in a 5-4 victory.
“It’s frustrating to see that happen,” Hersh said, commenting on the defeat. “We definitely could have and should have defeated Trinity. However, it’s important to move forward despite these early losses and focus on the matches that are ahead of us.”
After many successful games as well as some tough defeats, Hopkins headed home to Baltimore to open up the Centennial Conference season. Some of the members of the teams traveled to Carlisle, Penn. to take on the Dickinson Red Devils while others remained on campus to face off against the 21st ranked Bates College.
At the end of the weekend, the Jays were victorious in both matches as they successfully swept Dickinson 9-0 while just edging out Bates 5-4. The two wins brought Hopkins' overall record on the season to 6-2.
Sophomore Edward Corty and freshman Nathan Law defeated their Red Devils opponents 8-6 to claim the first doubles match of the Dickinson match. Freshman Chris Jou and junior Joonas Karjalainen then won a very tight match in the second doubles game, defeating their opponents 9-8 on the tiebreaker. Junior German Gonzalez and sophomore David Greenbaum swept their doubles with a solid 8-3 victory.
With a strong lead heading into singles, the squad continued to control play in the next phase. Gonzalez was the first to finish his sets at the second rank match with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Corty won by the same scores in the first-ranked competition to secure the match victory for the Jays. Karjalanain was successful in the fourth ranked match, crushing his opponent 6-1, 6-3. Greenbaum gave Hopkins the seventh win of the day at fourth, winning in straight sets 6-4, 7-5. Law trounced his opponent at fifth 6-0, 6-1 and finally Jou closed out the match at sixth with confidence, winning 6-2, 6-2 to finish off an impressive sweep for the defending Centennial Conference Champions.
Back in Baltimore, the rest of the squad did not enjoy such an easy sweep. Squaring off against the 21st ranked Bates Bobcats, Hopkins eventually came out on top, 5-4. Relying on the strength of their doubles teams once again, Hopkins held a 2-1 advantage coming out of the doubles section of the match. Brown and Lim prevailed 8-6 in the second-ranked match while Hersh and Kamei were successful in the third-ranked match, edging their opponents 8-5.
The singles matches produced similar competitive play, but the Jays got the necessary wins to seal a victory. Brown defeated his opponent in straight sets in the first-ranked match 6-2, 6-3. Hersh then fell in the second singles battle 6-4, 6-4. Hwang couldn’t hold onto his lead in the third singles match and eventually fell in three sets 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. Lim was also unable to pull out a win in the fourth singles match, falling 6-1, 6-2.
With Bates holding a 4-3 edge over the Jays, Weissler played the role of team hero and spoiler once again, pulverizing his opponent 6-0, 6-2. Reiter then closed out the match and sealed a crucial victory for the Jays, winning 6-3, 6-1 in the sixth singles match.
“Weissler’s victory was key in this match,” Hersh said. “He really shifted the momentum in favor of us and allowed Reiter to seal the match. It was an emotional and rewarding victory.”
Hopkins will return to the courts as they travel to Swarthmore next weekend to take on centennial opponent, the Garnet.
“There’s certainly room to improve and we have a lot of goals that we still want to achieve,” Hersh said. “We have to look forward and focus on the tough competition in front of us, and continue to train harder in order to have a successful remainder of the season.”
