Hoffman Remains Undefeated in Ivy League Play, Huang Rolls
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's tennis team lost its final home match of the season Sunday, falling to No. 60 Dartmouth, 5-2. For the second straight match, No. 73 Yale narrowly lost the doubles point, while Dartmouth backed up its doubles performance with four wins in singles play.
Playing indoors at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center due to inclement weather, Yale (13-10, 2-4 Ivy League) was unable to get off to a strong start as the Elis' No. 2 team of sophomore Patrick Chase and junior John Huang lost 8-5. The Bulldogs came roaring back in No. 1 doubles as juniors Daniel Hoffman and Marc Powers managed to upset Dartmouth's nationally ranked No. 67 team of Alex de Chatellus and Michael Laser, 9-7. The Yale tandem now boasts a 16-4 record on the season. Only moments later, however, Yale's No. 3 team of senior captain Erik Blumenkranz and classmate Joel Samaha came up short against Dartmouth's team of Cameron Ghorbani and Michael Jacobs, 9-7. It was the senior duo's final match at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.
In singles, Yale's No. 2 player, Powers, got off to a strong start, but eventually succumbed to the Big Green's Xander Centenari, 6-3, 6-2. At No. 1 singles, Huang beat Laser 6-3, 6-0 to put the Bulldogs on the board. At No. 6 singles, Yale junior Zachary Dean was unable to sustain his one-set lead and fell to Brandon DeBot 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. At this point in the match, Yale's No. 4, Blumenkranz, was deep into a third set with Dartmouth's Chris Kipouras. The Bulldogs' captain had lost the opening set only to storm back to win a tight second set. In the third set, however, Kipouras got an early lead and quashed all resistance from Blumenkranz to clinch the match for the Big Green by a final score of 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. In the next match to finish, Yale's No. 5 player, sophomore Kyle Dawson, lost a back-and-forth match to Chris Ho, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Hoffman, however, playing at No. 3 singles, maintained his undefeated record in Ivy League competition by beating Ghorbani 7-5, 7-5.
Dartmouth (18-3, 4-2 Ivy League) hits the road again next Saturday to play No. 24 Harvard.
In light of Yale's final match at home this season, Alex Dorato, Cary Leeds Head Coach of Men's Tennis, had high praise for his team and for his senior leaders, Blumenkranz and Samaha, in particular.
"This is one of my all-time favorite teams," said Dorato. "They found the fine line of pushing each other to the limit and yet still remaining friends, and I credit the seniors [for this]."
The Bulldogs will travel to play No. 51 Brown next Saturday at 2 p.m. in their final match of the season.
Report by Robert Batista '15, Yale Sports Publicity
