Bulldogs Win Every Set in Singles, Sweep Doubles Too

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's tennis team opened play at the Army Tournament Saturday afternoon outdoors at the Malek Tennis Center with a decisive 7-0 sweep of St. Bonaventure. The Bulldogs swept doubles and won every singles match in straight sets.

Yale's No. 1 doubles team, juniors Daniel Hoffman and Marc Powers, set the tone for the day with an 8-0 win. That duo is now 9-2.

Wins at No. 2 (8-2 from senior captain Erik Blumenkranz and classmate Joel Samaha) and No. 3 (8-3 from sophomore Patrick Chase and junior John Huang) finished off the sweep as the Bulldogs won doubles for the sixth time in their last seven matches. Chase and Huang have been key in that stretch, winning five of their last six matches.

Yale (9-5) was particularly dominant at the top three singles spots, where Powers, Huang and Hoffman dropped just five games total. Hoffman ran his winning streak to seven in a row with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Elliot Fanshel. Huang has now won six of seven, while Powers, ranked No. 92 in the country, snapped a four-match losing streak to improve to 6-4.

Blumenkranz had two of the closest sets of the day but still prevailed 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4, and sophomore Kyle Dawson won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5. Freshman Zachary Krumholz won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 to improve to 7-1.

In other action on Saturday at the tournament, Army fell to Binghamton 4-3 but clinched a win over St. Bonaventure with a 4-2 victory in singles. The doubles point will be played Sunday.

On Sunday, Yale finishes its match with Binghamton in doubles at 9 a.m., then plays a dual match vs. Army at 2 p.m.  All matches are scheduled to take place indoors at Lichtenberg Tennis Center.

Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity