HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's tennis team began the Fall portion of their 2024-2025 schedule with the Haverford/Swarthmore Invitational. Over the three-day competition, the Fords welcomed Vassar, NYU, Hamilton, and Stevens to the Bettye Marshall and Norman B. Bramall Tennis Courts. The Fords added 31 total wins over the three days of action.
Haverford vs. Vassar
On an uncharacteristically warm Friday afternoon, the Fords challenged Vassar, winning eight of the 11 matches against the Brewers. Starting off in doubles play, the duo James McKenzie and Justin Minverva turned away the pairing of Fernando Bauermeister and Henry Zhang (8-3), while the duo of Marko Arboleda and Owen Kilmer defeated Pedro Cattaruzzi and Joseph Braun 8-4.
The first-year duo of Teo Bortan and Zach Miano picked up a narrow victory against Arnav Agostinho and Joaquin Gil (8-7(5)), while the senior pairing of Danny Loder and Max Beckwith wrapped up doubles play, prevailing ina tiebreaker with n 8-7(7) win over Ethan Mantell and James Balon.
In singles play, McKenzie took care of Bauermeister in straight sets (6-3, 6-4), while Niki Lavu earned his first victory of the season, defeating Agostinho (7-6(3), 6-0). Chait Krishna opened up his 2024-2025 campaign, by getting past Balon (6-4, 7-6(5)), while Loder picked up the final victory of the day, vanquishing Braun (6-2, 6-3).
Haverford vs. NYU
Early Saturday morning, the Fords hosted NYU on day two of the Haverford/Swarthmore Invitational, with the Scarlet and Black taking wins in 11 out of the 14 matches.
James McKenzie and Justin Minerva kicked off doubles play with another victory on the weekend, dispelling Bryan Hui and Alex Lee 8-5. Marko Arboleda and Teo Bortan claimed an 8-5 victory as well on the day, taking down Shrey Arora and Jingyuan Chen. In a nailbiter of a doubles match, Chait Krishna and Sahil Prakash upended Ryan Shayani and Devan Sabapathy 8-7(6), while Zach Miano and Niki Lavu pulled off another close doubles victory (8-7(5)) against Ronak Khara and Tomas Medina.
Lavu earned victory number two on Saturday, this time in singles play, dispatching Zachary Freier 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 in a super tiebreaker. Krishna also earned his second win of the day, brushing off Nithin Sankar 2-6, 6-3, 10-6. Danny Loder earned a singles victory against Hui in straight sets (6-1, 7-6(3)), while Minerva got past Shayani (7-5, 6-3) in straight sets as well.
Owen Kilmer notched his first collegiate singles win, defeating Sabpathy ( 6-3, 6-3), while teammate Maxfield Ma grabbed his first victory of the 2024-2025 season, getting the better of Medina 6-4, 6-2.
Haverford vs. Hamilton
Following the successful morning against NYU, the Fords hosted Hamilton Saturday afternoon, claiming four victories from the Continentals. Sahil Prakash and Max Beckwith earned the first doubles win of the afternoon for Haverford, defeating Coby Feldman and Nicolas Gritz 8-3.
In singles play, Chait Krishna bested Lleyton Mendieta (6-3,6-3), while Andreas Wingert took down Feldman 6-2, 6-2. Rookie Teo Bortan took home the final victory of the day for the Fords, defeating Mark Apsey 6-2, 6-4.
Haverford vs. Stevens
The fourth and final match of the Haverford/Swarthmore Invitational took place Sunday morning, with Stevens paying a visit to the 'Ford. The Scarlet and Black took eight of the eleven matches against the Ducks.
The team of Marko Arboleda and Owen Kilmer collected another win during the weekend, trouncing Max-William Kanz and Samvid Andhare 8-6. The duo of Zach Miano and Danny Loder collected the last doubles victory of the day, getting the better of Matt Luzzi and Tristan Wroe 8-6.
Singles play is where Haverford began to take control, as Arboleda outlasted Kanz in a super tiebreaker (6-4, 6-7(5), 10-8). James McKenzie best Luzzi (7-5, 6-2), while Niki Lavu pulled out a super tiebreaker win against Aidan Miller 6-3, 1-6, 10-6.
Another super tiebreaker victory occurred when Chait Krishna got past Olof Persson (4-6 6-2 10-6), while Loder (defeated Johnny Haase (6-0, 6-1)) and Kilmer (defeated Dhaivik Chenemilla (7-5, 6-3)) defeated their opponents in straight sets.
Men's Tennis will return to action Friday, September 27, as the Fords will travel down to the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. for the three-day ITA Southeast Regional with more information about that tournament, including times and draws, is slated to be announced in the coming days.
