Netmen Sit Atop Northeast

The Harvard men's tennis team is already the top-ranked squad in the Northeast.

At the Rolex Eastern Regional Championships, held at Princeton, the Crimson went a step further and established itself as a dominant national power.

In a stunning display of depth and talent, Harvard captured both the singles and the doubles draws.

O Captain, My Captain

Captain Mike Zimmerman, playing in his first match since injuring his hamstring over the summer, won the singles bracket, while the team of Andrew Rueb and Albert Chang won the doubles bracket.

What made the victories even more impressive was the fact that they were not won by Harvard's top players.

Zimmerman is third on the singles depth chart on his own team, while Harvard's top doubles team of Zimmerman and Michael Shyjan, ranked second in the nation, was not allowed to compete.

"Our team is very strong this year," Zimmerman said. "But it was good to see us play so well."

There is virtually no end to the examples of Harvard's prowess.

Singles

In the singles draw, Harvard's top six players received invitations, while seventh- and eighth-ranked Umesha Wallooppillai and Marshall Burroughs qualified in a preliminary tournament.

In the real tournament, Wallooppillai and Burrough advanced to the round of 16, along with Zimmerman, Shyjan and Derek Brown.

Shyjan and Zimmerman both reached the semifinals. Shyjan lost to top-seeded Mark Booras of West Virginia, 6-3, 7-6, but Zimmerman completed his triumphant recovery with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 win, avenging Shyjan's loss.

"If you consider what we did, placing so many players and having them all do so well, it was unbelieveable," Rueb said.

Double Your Pleasure

In the doubles bracket, Burroughs and Wallooppillai again qualified in a preliminary tournament, joining Chang and Rueb, and Brown and Ian Williams.

Burroughs and Wallooppillai lost in the second round to third-seeded Greg Hartch and Dave Murphy of Princeton, while Brown and Williams advanced to the semifinals, equalling Harvard's feat in the singles bracket of occupying two out of the final four positions.

Rueb attributed this to the outstanding preparation of the players by the coaching staff.

"[Coach] Dave [Fish] and [Coach] Greg [Russell] told us it was time for us to reap the benefits of all the work we had done," Rueb said. "We just went out and reaped."

Home Stretch

In the finals, Chang and Rueb blew away the West Virginian team of Booras and Rodrigo Gonzalez in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

"They really didn't have much a chance," Rueb said. "Albert [Chang] was playing so well, I just had to sit back and pick off the easy volleys."

Chang and Rueb's victory qualifies them for the National Indoor Championships, scheduled to be held this February.

They will join Zimmerman and Shyjan, who had already qualified because of their high national ranking.

Zimmerman entered the tournament hoping to ease himself back into the competitive tennis scene.

But he was forced on the defensive right from the start. Marc Price of Penn State stetched Zimmerman to a second-set tiebreaker before falling, 7-5, 7-6.

In the quarterfinals, Zimmerman survived another scare, this time from Jeff Morneau of Providence. Morneau came out strong but faded, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6.

"I had a really tough draw," Zimmerman said. "But it forced me to get tougher, faster, instead of taking it easy."

Chang, Harvard's top singles player, was upset in the second round by Michael Phillips of Central Connecticut State, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Chang redeemed himself in the doubles bracket, though, and Zimmerman slammed Phillips in the semifinals, 6-0, 6-1, settling the account.