Garnet Streak Hits 50, Clinch #2 Seed
SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Swarthmore men's tennis team defeated Haverford for the 50th consecutive time, dropping the Fords by a score of 6-3 Wednesday afternoon in Centennial action at sunny Faulkner Courts. With the win, the Garnet secure the No. 2 seed in this weekend's Centennial Conference Championships in Baltimore, Md.
Swarthmore (7-9 overall, 7-2 CC) will again face Haverford (9-7, 7-2 CC), the third seed, in the first semi-final at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 26 while top-seed Johns Hopkins squares off against No. 4-seed Washington (Md.) in the second semifinal at 3:00 p.m. The championship match is set for Sunday, April 27 in Baltimore, Md. at 3:00 p.m.
It is Swarthmore’s first season in the Centennial Conference after 23 years as an independent.
Junior Kevin Shaughnessy (South Kingston, R.I. / South Kingston) improved to 8-1 in the Centennial with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles and paired with senior Jonathan Lo ’08 (Honolulu, Hawaii / Iolani) to win 8-3 at No. 1 doubles over the Haverford pair of Tom Kinrade and Evan Stiegel, the sixth-ranked pair in the Atlantic South region.
The Garnet grabbed the momentum after a thrilling tie-break win at No. 2 doubles, secured by juniors JJ England (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. / The Benjamin School) and Mark Greenburg (Paradise Alley, Ariz. / Phoenix Country Day) to give the hometown team a 2-1 lead into the singles action.
With Swarthmore up two matches in singles' play, sophomore Justin diFeliciantonio (Columbus, Ga. / Hardaway) clinched the Garnet win, defeating Marc Adelberg 7-6 (8), 6-4 at No. 6 singles. Greenburg rounded out Swarthmore’s 6-3 win at No. 5, serving up a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Haverford’s Hailiu Yang.