Harford, MD – The Emory Oxford men's tennis team traveled to Maryland this past weekend (April 6-7) to compete in the 18th Annual Harford Invitational Men's Tennis Tournament. There were a total of 7 NJCAA teams competing, 2 Division I schools and five Division III schools. The Eagles finished the tournament tied for 3rd-place (tied with DIII Onondaga) behind two Division I schools ranked nationally in the top 15 (Harford & ASA NY).
The highlight of the weekend was the huge upset that was delivered by sophomore captain Julian McCarthy and freshman Kevin Yan. They won their first round second doubles match against DIII Rowan-Gloucester 8-3. In the semifinals they pulled out a tough win to defeat the #1 seed ASA (NY) 9-7. They fell in the finals against Harford 8-3. McCarthy also had a great match against ASA (NY) succumbing in an exciting 3rd set tiebreaker to the eventual tournament champion.
In singles play, McCarthy won his quarterfinal match 6-1, 6-1 before losing in the semi-finals. Freshman Kavi Jain won his first match 6-1, 6-0 in second singles but but came up short in the following round. In third singles, sophomore Tate Coston won 6-2, 6-2 in his first match but was overcome by a tough opponent in the next match. Yan (fourth singles) and fellow freshmen Orest Los (fifth singles) and John Funda (sixth singles) all had a dominating 6-0, 6-0 quarterfinal matches but fell in the semi-finals.
In doubles play, Jain and Coston won their first doubles quarterfinal match 8-2 but dropped their semi-final match. Los and sophomore David George easily won their first match 8-1 in third doubles, but lost their semi-final match.
"The boys competed well this weekend against tough competition," stated Head Coach Pernilla Hardin. "We were able to finish undefeated against all DIII colleges but solid experience was gained against the stronger DI opponents."
The Eagles will return to action on Saturday (April 13th) against Emmanuel College. Matches will be held at Oxford and is set to begin at 3:00PM