Fords Swat-ted out of conference tournament

SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The dream season may have come to a close on Friday afternoon for the Haverford men's tennis team as the Fords fell to host Swarthmore College, 6-3, in a semifinal match-up of the Centennial Conference postseason tournament.

Will Garrett and Marc Rudolph teamed up for an 8-5 win over their Garnet opponents at No. 3 doubles, but that would be the only point the Fords would take into singles action after Swarthmore rallied to win No. 1 and No. 2 doubles by identical 9-7 scores.

Needing to stage a comeback themselves, the Fords fell short winning singles matches only at Nos. 2 and 6 to fall out of the conference tournament.

Thomas Kinrade picked up the win at No. 2 with a straight set win over Kevin Shaughnessy, and teammate Jeff Monhait mirrored Kinrade with a 6-3, 6-3, win at No. 6 for Haverfords final two points.

Alex Buxbaum nearly pulled out another point for the Fords at No. 1. After rallying from a first set loss to win the second, 6-3, Buxbaum fell to Swarthmore's Stephen Youngblood 6-4 in the final set.

Haverford, ranked eighth in the Atlantic South Region, falls to 12-5 with the loss. Swarthmore, who will move on to Sunday's Centennial final match against Johns Hopkins, improves to 11-6 for the season. The Garnet are ninthin the Atlantic South.

The loss doesn't necessarily mean the end to the Haverford season as the Fords will now play the waiting game to see if they are chosen by the NCAA selection committee for an at-large bid into the national tournament.