Pick Up First Conference Tournament Win Since Winning the Championship Match in 2006

CHESTERTOWN, Md. – Host four seed Washington College, ranked 14th in the Atlantic South region, won its first Centennial Conference Tournament match since winning the conference championship in 2006 with a 5-0 win over visiting fifth seed Franklin & Marshall, ranked 20th in the Atlantic South, on Tuesday afternoon in the Centennial Conference Men's Tennis Tournament First Round match at Schottland Tennis Center.  The Shoremen will travel to #20 Johns Hopkins, the tournament's top seed, on Saturday with a match time of 11:00 a.m. in the semifinal of the Centennial Conference Tournament. 

Washington College 5 Franklin & Marshall 0 – Centennial Conference Tournament First Round

Doubles
- Washington won all three doubles to take a 3-0 lead.  In No. 2 doubles, Landon Strober and Koby Bonta finished first with an 8-3 win over the Diplomats' Justin Pace and Tristan Steffe.
- The Shoremen picked up a win at No. 3 in the next match to finish as Ryohei Kawai and Brady Burns downed Pedro Norte and Anthony Casale, 8-7 (7-5).
- Karl Hoegstedt and Andrew Smith completed the sweep in doubles for Washington as they edged F&M's Adrian Charchalis and Issac Rockower, 8-6.

Singles
- By winning all three matches in doubles, the Shoremen needed to win just two matches in singles to clinch the victory.  Bonta gave Washington its first win in singles at No. 3 as he topped Steffe, 6-4, 6-2.
- Hoegstedt secured the victory and a trip to Baltimore for the Shoremen as he topped Charchalis, 7-5, 6-3, as in the conference tournament the match is played to decision.
- The closest of the other four matches to conclude was at No. 2 singles as Pace was leading Strober, 6-3, 5-3, before the match was called.
- No. 4 singles had just started the third set with Kawai leading Rockower, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0.
- Both fifth and sixth singles were tied after two sets when the match ended.  Burns was 6-2, 3-6, with Norte at No. 5 and at No. 6, WC's Aaradith Ravichandran was 4-6, 6-2, with F&M's Casale.

Notes
- Washington is now 12-7 overall, while F&M concludes its campaign at 7-8.
- The Shoremen snapped a nine-match losing streak in the conference tournament with their win this afternoon.  Washington topped Johns Hopkins 6-1 in the tournament final in 2006, the program's last Centennial crown.  WC has won 12 Centennial titles in men's tennis.
- Washington is competing in its 11th conference tournament since the Centennial went to a tournament in men's tennis in 2006.

Quote From Acting Head Coach Michael Herman
"F&M came out and showed a lot of heart.  We were able to stay strong under pressure.  We played very good doubles and we had our upperclassmen step up big for us in singles.  Getting past the first round is something our program has not been able to do in a long time. Credit to the guys who took advantage of the opportunity.  We look forward to playing Hopkins on Saturday!"

Up Next
5/6 @ #20 Johns Hopkins – 11:00 a.m. (Centennial Conference Tournament Semifinal)
- Team's first trip to the semifinals since 2010 when Johns Hopkins won 5-0.