Gophers Clear First Hurdle, Face Eagles Sunday

TOWSON, Md. — Victories by Jack Hodges (London, England/Shrewsbury School) at second singles and Seth Hoesman (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) at No. 3 gave top-seeded Goucher the two points it needed to reap a 5-0 triumph over Scranton this afternoon in one semifinal of the 2016 Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Championship.

Juniata, the No. 2 seed, defeated Catholic, 5-0, in the other semifinal, setting up a rematch of the 2015 championship match between the Gophers and the Eagles for this year's Landmark title.

• Hoesman's 6-3, 6-1 victory over Matt Prendergast provided the Gophers (18-4) with a 4-0 lead in the match. It was also the 60th singles win of the senior's career, making him the all-time leader in the history of school's men's tennis program.

• Hodges earned the decisive fifth point by turning back Keller McGurrin 6-3, 6-4, ending any hopes the Royals (8-10) had of staging a comeback.

• The first match to finish was at first doubles where Joey Caracappa (Smithtown, N.Y./Saddlebrook Preparatory School) and Hoesman won eight of the final nine games to come out top against Alexander Ochalski and McGurrin, 8-3.

• At No. 2 doubles, Midori Fujitani (Tokyo, Japan/International School Bangkok) and Hodges disposed of Prendergast and Michael Pottieger, 8-4; at No. 3, Josiah Meekins (Trenton, N.J./Princeton Day School) and Elliot Diehl (York, Pa./York Suburban) were 8-6 winners over Christian Aksu and Kevin Murphy.
  

• The 18 wins by head coach Brendan Kincaid's squad is a new Landmark Conference single-season record, surpassing the 17 victories achieved by Juniata in 2013-14 and again in 2014-15.
  

The Landmark Conference announced today that the championship match, which will be played at Goucher, has been moved back one day and will take place Sunday, beginning at 12 noon.