This season, the Hopkins men’s tennis team has bested all of their conference play opponents, and this Saturday was no different. Last week’s matches ended on a high note; after going 1-2 in the weekend matches, the Blue Jays swept Centennial Conference opponent Franklin & Marshall to improve their undefeated conference record to 4-0. Hopkins was able to carry their momentum to Haverford on Saturday to prevail yet again with a 9-0 sweep in the matches.
The match began with third doubles, opening with junior Erik Lim and freshman Jeremy Dubin to lead the Blue Jays. They strolled past the opponents with a formidable 8-3 victory. The next match at first doubles was not quite as easy; the Haverford players battled with Hopkins’ freshmen Michael Buxbaum and Emerson Walsh throughout the match but fell short as the Blue Jays handled the pressure with poise to close out the match winning 9-7. Sophomore Nicholas Garcia and junior Noah Joachim were passed the torch at second doubles with a 2-0 lead and commanded their match, defeating the opponent 8-4 to sweep the doubles matches.
Starting the singles bracket, the Blue Jays were in a desirable position with a great advantage over the opponents in their 3-0 lead. Yet, Haverford was still also a conference-undefeated team; the Blue Jays had to close out the match in control, not underestimating their opponent. Lim provided the first victory of the singles matches at fifth singles, topping his opponent in two quick sets to win 6-1, 6-3. The clinching fifth victory came from second singles, as junior Ben Hwang utterly dominated his opponent, giving up just two games in a 6-1, 6-1 commanding win.
Even with the win safely secured, the Blue Jays did not let their foot off the pedal, poised to defeat their opponents. The question had turned into how much Hopkins could win by. Garcia answered with his dominant victory at fourth singles; he also lost just three games in a 6-2, 6-1 win. At sixth singles, Hopkins earned their seventh match as junior Sam Weissler crushed his opponent easily with a 6-4, 6-1 reassuring win. A 9-0 sweep started to become very imaginable with that seventh win. Dubin recognized that, attacking his opponent relentlessly to prevail with an equally dominant 6-4, 6-1 victory. With just the last first singles match left, the Blue Jays owning an 8-0 lead, the two opponents kept things interesting.
Haverford first single Luis Acaba stole the first set from Buxbaum, winning 6-3. However, Buxbaum was able to regroup his focus, coming back in the second set, battling fiercely to earn the second set back 6-4. The final match went down to a third set tiebreaker, and Buxbaum came out victorious dealing with the pressure easily en route to the 10-4 tiebreaker win. The freshman came back from behind to win his match 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 and bring Hopkins the satisfying 9-0 sweep.
Haverford simply looked overwhelmed with the array of attacks that the Blue Jays brought with each player just as tough and talented as the next. The Blue Jays were especially relentless in their victory, hungry to earn the 9-0 win. Haverford had taken two matches from Hopkins in last year’s match, and this year’s Blue Jays made sure that was not going to happen. The sixth-seeded Hopkins men’s tennis team will host the McDaniel Green Terror on April 16 at 4:00 p.m. The Blue Jays will look to improve upon their already impressive season with an overall record of 10-4 and still undefeated conference record of 5-0.
