The men's tennis team played the National Indoor Championships at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club over this past weekend.
The Eagles came out with one loss and two wins against Johns Hopkins University (Md.), Kenyon College (Ohio) and University of Redlands (Calif.), respectively.
Emory went into the tournament with a 2-1 standing after a win over Shorter University on Tuesday.
"There was a lot of tough competition this past weekend," junior Eric Halpern said.
Eight of the top 14-ranked D-III teams were out at the tournament. Emory claimed five previous championships but fell short to Kenyon last year.
The squad faced a tough fight against No. 10-ranked Johns Hopkins, ending with a loss of 6-3.
Hopkins came ahead of Emory thanks to the three doubles matches.
The Eagles' singles wins came from junior Alex Ruderman, running his spring record to 4-0 after a triumph at the No. 1 spot, Halpern, at No. 3, and junior Ian Wagner at No. 5.
"We know what we need to work on and there are a lot of positives to take away," said Halpern.
On Saturday, Emory took on Kenyon College and came out on top with a final score of 5-4.
There were three singles victories coming from senior Nick Szczurek (6-4, 2-6, 6-1), Wagner (6-3, 6-2), and sophomore William Adams (7-5, 6-1).
In doubles play, there were two victories from senior Jackson Isaacs and Szczurek, and Halpern and Ruderman.
The key to the match was the lower seeded games.
The Eagles won the fourth, fifth and sixth singles spots along with the second and third doubles spots.
Along with the win, Emory's Halpern came away with a victory of his own in his final singles match at the USTA/ITA Small College Championships in Fort Myers, Fla.
He finished Saturday's match with a score of 6-1, 7-5.
He was named "Athlete of the Week" as he is now the seventh Emory player in the last eight years to win this championship.
Halpern was just as satisfied with the team as he was with his individual play. The way the team responded to their loss against Hopkins encouraged him.
"We went down to Hopkins first round, but it says a lot about our character as a team that we won the back draw and took out two top ten teams - Kenyon and Redlands," he said.
On Sunday, the last day of the tournament, the Eagles ended with a 7-2 win over University of Redlands to close out the weekend.
The Eagles swept the singles matches with Ruderman at No. 1, sophomore Rafe Mosetick at No. 2, Halpern at No. 3, Szczrek at No. 4, Wagner at No. 5 and Adams at No. 6., paving the way for a dominating victory.
In the doubles matches, Mosetick and Wagner took a win with a final score of 8-6.
The Eagles will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 3, playing against Methodist University (N.C.) and Christopher Newport University (Va.) on Emory's home courts before heading to Claremont, Calif. for the Stag-Hen Invitational.
– By Nicola Braginsky
