BY LAUREN WALKER

In print | May 1, 2008

The Swarthmore men’s tennis team’s season was cut short last weekend with a heartbreaking loss to the rival Fords of Haverford College. The Garnet men also took on the Fords last Wednesday, beating them 6-3 and building upon what was already a 49 game winning streak against the program. On Saturday, however, an unexpected injury left the Garnet exposed, resulting in a 5-4 defeat, Swarthmore’s first loss to the black squirrels since 1956.

On Wednesday, Swarthmore rallied to beat Haverford for the 50th consecutive time, securing the #2 seed in the Conference tournament and bringing their overall record to 7-9 (7-2 CC). The Garnet earned victories in the No. 2, 4, 5, and 6 singles, and the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.

In doubles action, Kevin Shaughnessy ’09 paired with Jonathan Lo ’08 to take the No. 1 match 8-3. JJ England ’09 and Mark Greenburg ’09 followed with an exciting tiebreak win in the No. 2 match. This gave the Garnet a 2-1 lead going into the singles matches.

Swarthmore finished strong to seal the victory in the singles matches. Shaughnessy improved his personal record to 8-1 in conference, winning the No. 2 match. Mark Wee ’11, Greenburg and Justin diFeliciantonio ’10 also claimed their matches in the No. 4, 5, and 6 matches, respectively.

The win on Wednesday put the Garnet in the number 2 spot for the Centennial Conference Tournament, hosted by the #1 seed, Johns Hopkins University. The Garnet was scheduled to face the #3 seed, Haverford, in what was hoped to be a repeat of Wednesday’s action, but the matchup took a late and unexpected turn for the worst.

Haverford jumped into the lead early, reversing the doubles scores from Wednesday’s action and carrying a 2-1 lead into the singles matches. England and Greenburg held strong in the No. 2 match for the Garnet win. As singles action started up, Shaughnessy continued his hot streak, beating Haverford’s Stephen Feder at the No. 2 spot and bringing his record to 9-1 CC. This left the overall score tied at two.

Haverford struck again, taking the next two matches (No. 6 and No. 1) and reclaiming a 4-2 lead. The Garnet battled back, however, as Greenburg and England continued to perform, winning the No. 5 and No. 3 matches, respectively. This locked up the score at 4 a piece and left it up to the last singles match, the No. 4 fight between Wee and Haverford’s Marc Rudolph.

Wee took on Rudolph with confidence, as he had beaten him in straight sets on Wednesday (6-2, 7-5). Every point was a battle, as both of the first two sets went into tiebreaks, one ending in Wee’s favor and one in Rudolph’s.

Going into the third set, however, Wee began to suffer from intense cramps in his leg and was unable to move as quickly and agilely as usual. Rudolph quickly seized this advantage and finished Wee off in the third set, 6-0. This unfortunate loss put an abrupt end to the Garnet men’s weekend. It brings their season record to 7-10 overall.

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