April 27, 2007
Box Score
BEL AIR, MD - The #13 Johns Hopkins men's tennis team advanced to the championship match of the Centennial Conference Tournament Friday with a 5-0 win over Dickinson in the semifinals. Hopkins will play the winner of the Haverford-Washington semifinal match. This is the second straight championship match appearance for Hopkins. The Blue Jays are now 16-2 on the season and have won 12 straight matches. The Red Devils fall to 12-7 on the season.
Hopkins swept all three doubles matches to take an early 3-0 lead over Dickinson. Freshmen David Maldow (Jericho, NY/Jericho) and Dan Myers (Chattanooga, TN/Collegiate School) won at second doubles. The pair defeated Eric Schroeder and Pavel Hejsek 8-2 to improve to 6-2 on the season. At third doubles, juniors Rafael Roberti (Summit, NJ/Summit) and Matt Naftilan (Nasvhille, TN/Montgomery Bell Academy) defeated Trevor Heck and Matt Wood 8-4 at third. Senior Hillen Smith (Baltimore, MD/Boys Latin) and junior Joe Vasoontara (Bangkok, Thailand/Loomis Chaffee) won 8-6 at first over Whit McFarlane and Toni Bujas. Smith and Vasoontara were up 7-6 and broke serve on the last game to take match.
The Blue Jays clinched the match with wins at first and second singles. At first, Maldow was trailing 4-3 in the first set to McFarlane. But Maldow, the all-conference selection, came back and won three straight games to win the first set 6-3. He then won the second set 6-0 to take the match. Vasoontara then clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-2 win at second singles.
The championship match is set for 11:00 am on Sunday, April 29 at Hopkins. The #2 seed Haverford and the #3 seed Washington will meet at 3:00 pm on Friday in the second semifinal.
