The Hopkins men’s tennis team opened up their spring season with a commanding 9-0 win versus the University of Delaware Blue Hens in Baltimore this past Friday. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against Delaware and dropped the Blue Hens to 0-6 to start the season.
The Blue Jays opened up doubles with a dominating performance from sophomore Justin Kang and freshman Scott Thygesen, who turned in an 8-0 victory in third doubles. In first, juniors Mike Buxbaum and Jeremy Dubin beat their counterparts 8-4.
To close out doubles, junior Emerson Walsh and senior Nicholas Garcia defeated the Hens’ freshman Blaise Casselbury and junior Tyler Flematti in a thrilling 9-8 victory in second. The win was Garcia’s 50th career win in doubles, and it gave Hopkins the clean sweep in the doubles portion of the match.
Kang dominated in singles as well, pulling off 6-0 wins in both sets at sixth. At first, Buxbaum also needed just two sets to wrap up a victory, with 6-1 and 6-2 results to put another one in the win column for the Jays.
Thygesen would require three sets, but he too pulled out a win with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-4 performance at third. Garcia, Dubin and freshman Eshan Dave all turned in two-set wins to give Hopkins the clean sweep on the day.
The Jays opened up their match on Sunday against the Salisbury University Seagulls in the exact same fashion, by sweeping the doubles portion of the match. Garcia and freshman Colin Muraika set the tone for the day for the Jays with an 8-0 win in third.
In second, Kang and Thygesen turned in a dominating performance as well, winning 8-1. Salisbury came the closest to putting points on the board against Dubin and sophomore David Perez in first, but the Jays duo were able to secure a 8-6 win to give Hopkins a 3-0 lead going into singles.
Dave and Kang both turned in strong performances in their singles matches with Dave posting 6-1, 6-0 wins at fourth and Kang winning 6-1, 6-0 at fifth.
Dubin then fell 2-6, 1-6 in first to give Salisbury their only point of the day. Hopkins would then close out the match with two set wins by Perez, Thygesen and Garcia to secure the 8-1 win for the Jays.
Kang attributed the teams early season to the team’s effort in pre-season practices. “Our practices before the first match were really intense, and that helped motivate us to start the season strong,” Kang said. “Practicing with high energy goes a long way and translates into dual matches. Our goal is to keep the motivation going throughout the season.”
Kang added that the victory against Delaware was particularly rewarding for this team.
“A solid win over a D-I team gives us confidence moving forward,” the sophomore said. “The freshmen were able to experience their first dual match. Even with a relatively new lineup this year, having a good win over a good team lets us know that we are progressing as a team.”
Kang emphasized that maintaining the excitement of playing a tough D-I foe will be crucial moving forward.
“Keeping up the energy and intensity day in and day out is certainly a goal of ours,” Kang said. “We’re confident that if we keep up the hard work and not worry about things we can’t control then we will be a very tough team for anyone to play against.”
The women’s team made the cross-country trip to Indiana this weekend to take part in the 2016 ITA National Indoor Championships.
In the opening round, the three-time defending champion Lady Jays went down 4-0 against Washington & Lee University, who swept Hopkins in the doubles to take the early lead, although they only won a total of four more matches overall.
The Jays also dropped first singles when Generals junior Brooke Donnelly edged out Hopkins junior Ashnaa Rao 6-4, 6-4.
The Lady Jays then came storming back, winning the next five matches to advance to the semifinals.
In second, sophomore Megumi Chen bested her opponent 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, to put Hopkins on the board. Junior Jody Law then put up a 6-3, 6-3 victory at third.
Sophomore Caroline Greydak dominated in sixth, dropping just one game and pulling the Lady Jays within one.
At fifth, sophomore Sunaina Vohra tied it up with a 6-1, 6-3 win. Junior Amanda Austi then completed the comeback, defeating Generals freshman Mary Hampton McNeal 6-1, 7-4 at fourth to send Hopkins to the semifinals.
The Lady Jays began their match against top-seeded Carnegie Mellon with an 8-3 win at first doubles by Rao and junior Mikey Barthelmass. However, Hopkins then dropped the next two matches to fall behind 2-1 going into the singles portion of the match.
Carnegie Mellon took the first match in the singles but Rao pulled the Lady Jays back within one with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win in first.
Carnegie Mellon clinched the victory against Hopkins and booked their trip to the finals with consecutive wins in fourth and third, but Vohra and Greydak did not go down with a fight, winning in fifth and sixth to reduce Carnegie Melon’s margin of victory to win.
Hopkins won the third-place match against Sewanee and earned themselves some tournament hardware.
They were led by wins in doubles by Chen, with senior Olivia Kasten in second and Austi and Law in third. They were carried in singles by wins from Greydak in fifth, Chen in first and freshman Kimberly Zou in sixth.
Rao credited the Lady Jays’ victory against Washington & Lee to their perseverance.
“It’s always tough going down 4-0 to a great team but our team was super motivated to get through the first round and come back on top after we had a loss to W&L last season,” Rao said. “Everyone came out on fire for singles and did a great job of closing out their matches so it was great.”
Rao also had good things to say about their performance against Carnegie Mellon.
“I think a place for improvement on our team is in our doubles matches,” the junior said. “Our team is filled with so much talent, and we have so much potential, and I think a little bit of more work on doubles would make the difference in the future.”
Rao was proud of the effort the team put in to bounce back in the third-place game.
“I think that we went into the match very focused and determined,” Rao said. “Everyone brought out their A-game and fought really hard to make sure we won that match. It’s tough because by the time the last day comes around everyone is sore or tired but the team did a great job with pushing through and winning this one.”
The women’s team plays next at noon on Friday, March 18 against the The College of New Jersey Lions in Virginia. The men face Morgan State this Friday evening at the Green Spring Racquet Club just outside Baltimore.
