Tough Battle Ends in Defeat for Men’s Tennis

Apr. 16 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The men's tennis team of Carnegie Mellon University fell 4-3 in a match down to the wire against Johns Hopkins University on Sunday, April 16. The Tartans gave a fight during singles action hoping to win four matches after dropping the doubles point, but came up one match short. Carnegie Mellon drops to 3-11 in dual meets for the year, while Johns Hopkins improves to 6-5.

Sophomore Stephen Kuhn (Evansville, Ill./W.H. Harrison), junior Jordan Koslosky (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) and senior Carl Yang (Plano, Texas/Plano West) each won their respective singles matches earning the three points for Carnegie Mellon. The number three doubles tandem of junior Dan Munoz (Fargo, N.D./Fargo North) and sophomore Andrew Clearfield (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna)won their match 9-7 despite not earning a point for the team.

Kuhn fell down early 2-1 but battled back to take a 4-3 lead and eventually break his opponent's serve to win 6-4. Kuhn also fell behind 2-1 in the second set to an animated Rafael Roberti, but earned a break point and went on to win 6-3.

Koslosky and Yang helped make the match interesting as they won in straight sets. Koslosky defeated Matthew Naftilan 6-4, 6-4 at number five singles before Yang topped Kevin Ma 6-4, 6-2 at number four singles. Yang showed his toughness yet again by winning five straight games in the first set after being down 4-1. He used his momentum to start the second set on top and never looked back.

The overall match came down to the number six singles match between Carnegie Mellon's Anthony Robinson (Freeport, Bahamas/St. Andrew's)and Johns Hopkins' Lawrence Wei. The three set match was exciting from start to finish with both teams fighting alongside the players on each shot. Unfortunately for the Tartans, Wei proved to be too strong in the end winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Next up for the nationally ranked Tartans is the University Athletic Association Tournament hosted by Emory University. The tournament will begin Friday, April 21 and end on Sunday, April 23. Seedings for the tournament will be known on Wednesday, April 19.