HUNTINGDON, Pa. — The Catholic University men's tennis team came out on top in its Landmark Conference Quarterfinal match against No. 4 Juniata on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals defeated the home team 5-1 and will advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2014. 

Catholic started off strong by winning the first point of the day at No. 2 doubles. Tycho Janssen and Ben Perks came out firing to win four straight games before losing one, but picked it right back up to close things out in the final four.

James Earwood and Diego Romo were able to extend the lead at No. 1 doubles with an 8-5 victory. The pair was down 3-5 to start but found their rhythm down the stretch and won the remaining five games. 

The Cardinals came up just short of sweeping the doubles matches. After a back-and-forth battle at No. 3 singles, Juniata earned its first point of the contest to cut the deficit in half. Henry Ogden and Leyton Ramos-Platt put up a tremendous fight but ultimately fell 6-8.

Catholic continued to find success in the top singles spots with Janssen and Romo both recording their second win of the day. Romo picked up the first singles victory at No. 3. He only allowed two games and was able to defeat his opponent in style with set scores of 6-2, 6-0. Janssen followed with Catholic's fourth point at No. 1 singles. He got a late break of serve to win the first set 6-3 and dominated the second set 6-1. 

Charlie Robbins secured the Cardinal's fifth point and clinched the match at No. 6 singles. The freshman stepped up and delivered in his first collegiate postseason match with 6-2, 6-0 victories. 

In the regular season meeting between these two teams, Juniata got the better of Catholic by a score of 7-2. The Cardinals had four would-be starters missing from the lineup and dropped multiple games by a slim margin. With their full team present today, the Cardinals were able to flip the script with two doubles and three singles match wins on the day. 

Prior to today, he Cardinals had not won a postseason match since 2014 when they went on the win program's only championship title. Catholic made the Landmark Tournament in 2021 but was defeated by Susquehanna in the first round.

Catholic will now prepare to take on the undefeated Gophers on Friday, May 3. Goucher earned a first-round bye in the tournament and secured home-court advantage for the semifinal match after a 9-0 season. The Cardinals will travel to Baltimore, Md. for a chance to advance to the championship.