CLAREMONT, Calif. - Haverford College Men's Tennis (3-2) began the Spring Break trip with a pair of 5-2 victories, defeating Hope International (4-6) Monday afternoon in Fullerton Calif., before prevailing over UC Santa Cruz (4-6) Monday night in Claremont, Calif. The match with the Banana Slugs, originally scheduled for Tuesday, March 11, was moved to Monday evening due to weather concerns.

Haverford 5, Hope International 2

Haverford got off to a hot start in doubles play, picking up wins on all three courts to secure the coveted doubles' point. On court two, the team of Marko Arboleda and Owen Kilmer turned away Ricky Lizardo and Kaito Henderson 6-1, before the dynamic duo of James McKenzie and Justin Minerva clinched the doubles point on court one, by prevailing 6-4 over Yahia El Sheikh and Reid Lizardo. Doubles play wrapped up on court three as the rookie tandem of Teo Bortan and Zach Miano defeated Dylan Barrett and Tommy Folsom 6-4. 

Moving on to singles play, Kilmer picked up Haverford's second point of the day, defeating Ricky Lizardo on court three 6-1,6-1, before Hope International got on the board, as Reid Lizardo took down McKenzie 6-1, 6-2 on court two.

The Fords went up 3-1, as Chait Krishna dispatched Kaito Henderson 6-2, 6-4, while Arboleda downed El Sheikh 6-3, 6-3, to extend the Scarlet and Black lead to 4-1, clinching things for the Fords. Hope International pulled one back on court six, as Kento Henderson claimed a 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (third-set tiebreaker), victory over Bortan, before Haverford's Niki Lavu sealed up the 5-2 victory by defeating Folsom 6-4, 6-4.

 Haverford 5, UC Santa Cruz 2

The Banana Slugs got off to a promising start in doubles play, as the duo of Andrew Tjoa and Adam Hidas defeated James McKenzie and Justin Minerva 6-3 on court one. Rocco Melendez and Benjamin Wang of UC Santa Cruz then took down Teo Bortan and Zach Miano 6-2 on court three, clinching the vital doubles point for the Banana Slugs. To wrap up doubles play, Marko Arboleda and Owen Kilmer picked up a 6-4 victory over Mayur Nookala and Radin Sadeghi on court two.

Already up 1-0, UC Santa Cruz secured their second point of the day with Nookala prevailing 6-1, 6-4 over Kilmer on court three. Arboleda helped get the Fords on the board on court one, defeating Sadeghi 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to trim the Banana Slugs' lead to 2-1. In a hard-fought battle on court five, Minerva fended off Wang 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), evening the match at 2-2.

The Scarlet and Black took a 3-2 lead from court two, as McKenzie dispatched Tjoa 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Chait Krishna then earned his second win of the day, clinching victory for Haverford by defeating Hari Raghavan 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1 on court six for the Fords' fourth point.

To round out the match, Niki Lavu bested Hidas 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), securing the fifth and final point for the Scarlet and Black.

Men's Tennis will return to action on Wednesday, March 12, as Haverford will take on Wabash (10 a.m. PDT) and No. 20 Redlands (2 p.m. PDT) on the University of Redlands campus.