Orlando, FL (May 13, 2023) -- The No. 2 Tufts University men's tennis team picked up a victory in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals down in Florida Saturday afternoon over No. 7 Emory University, 5-2.
Â
In the doubles session, Tufts picked up all three victories as they raced out to a 3-0 lead early in the match.
Josh Belandres and
Rishabh Sharda got Tufts started as they picked up the win at No. 2 over Andrew Esses and John Lasanajak, 8-6. The win gives Belandres and Sharda their team-leading 19th win as a doubles team as they are on a four-match winning streak.
Â
Next
Alex Ganchev and
Jack Moldenhauer doubled the Jumbos' lead as they defeated Samuel Dean and Nolan Shah 8-7. Finally, at the No. 1 doubles position,
Derin Acaroglu and
Vuk Vuksanovic picked up a key 8-7 win over Ryan Glanville and Charlie James to give Tufts the doubles sweep.
Sharda got Tufts rolling in the singles sessions by winning in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-1, over Esses. This bumped the Jumbos' team lead to 4-0 in the match. The singles victory was Sharda's 14th singles win this year and he is 9-1 in his last 10 singles matches.
The Eagles didn't go away as they would secure a victory at the No. 4 singles spot to get the team score to 4-1 Tufts. They would also pick up a singles victory at No. 2 to cut the Jumbo lead to 4-2. Â Â
Andrej Djokic gave Tufts their fifth and clinching point as he was victorious at the No. 6 position over William Coupe in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. The victory was just Djokic's fourth singles win this year.
Â
Ganchev and
Javier Gonzalez were in their third set during their singles matches at No. 3 and No. 5 when play was halted.
Tufts will now move onto the NCAA Tournament Semifinals down in Orlando as they will take on No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College on Monday, May 15th at 12 P.M.
                                                                                                                    --JUMBOS--
Â
Â
