Men's Tennis Dispatches Defending Champs Columbia

The Harvard men's tennis team--sporting tans from its Spring Break trip to California--took to the courts yesterday afternoon against Columbia, the defending Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association (EITA), and reduced the Lions to a whimper with a 6-1 win at Palmer Dixon Courts. Columbia  1 Harvard  6

The Crimson (9-7, 2-0 EITA)--who dropped all five matches out West--was in its second EITA match of the season.

"We've never really had a losing streak like the one we had in California," captain Andrew Rueb said. "We were really looking for a good win."

It was Columbia (10-2, 3-1 EITA), however, who came out fired up in the doubles matches and stunned Harvard by winning two of the three matches to garner the doubles point.

"We've been spending a lot of practice time on doubles," Rueb said. "So it was disappointing to lose like that."

Rueb and sophomore Mitty Arnold teamed up at first doubles, winning in convincing fashion, 8-2.

At second doubles, sophomore Josh Hausman and freshman Tom Blake dropped an 8-4 decision.

"We came in a little flat," Hausman said. "We were expecting just to win because we played a lot stronger opponents in California. We got off to a slow start and never really gotinto the match."

The duo of junior Adam Valkin and freshman Philip Tseng also dropped their third doubles match, 8-4.

"We have to be a little more aggressive at the net," Valkin said. "There wasn't enough movement at the net today."

"It seemed like we were just waiting and seeing what was going to happen in doubles," junior Dan Chung said. "Coach [Dave Fish] told us in the meeting after the doubles matches to really go after it."

The singles play began with the first, third and fifth singles matches taking the courts, and the Crimson quickly put to rest any notions the Lions might have had of sneaking out of Cambridge with a win.

Arnold began the onslaught with a dominating 6-1, 6-1 win at third singles, and the rout was on. The Crimson's superior talent at the singles positions left the Columbia foes defeated in its wake.

Rueb at first singles and Chung at fifth singles completed the Crimson sweep of the first set of singles matches, winning 6-3, 7-6, and 6-1, 6-4, respectively.

"We started out the singles matches really well," Chung said. "And that really set the tone for the rest of the matches."

Blake provided the fourth team point with a victory at fourth singles, winning 6-4, 6-2, and insuring the Crimson victory.

Even with the outcome decided, however, the intensity of tennis in the remaining second and sixth singles matches remained at third-set-tie-breaker levels.

At sixth singles, junior Todd Meringoff got off to a quick start and won the first set handily, 6-2, before faltering 4-6 in the second. In the deciding set, Meringoff dominated the action and Jumped out to a 5-1 lead. After several nervous moments when it appeared that his opponent would be able to climb back into the match, Meringoff was able to put the set away, 6-3.

At second singles, Tseng and Columbia's Rohit Reddy played out the day's most compelling match, a three-set marathon amidst boisterous cheering from both squads.

Tseng came up short in the first set, dropping the stanza in a tiebreaker. Tseng fought back to knot the match with a 6-3 win in the second set.

The two battled to 4-4 in the final set, before Tseng broke Reddy's serve in the ninth game. Tseng held serve to close out the win, 6-4, completing the Crimson's sweep of the singles matches.

The 6-1 win over the Lions was tinged with revenge for some. Columbia had defeated Harvard last season en route to the league crown.

"For me there was a little revenge factor," Chung said. "It was a really painful loss for us last year. But we tried not to get too emotionally involved."

"It's always nice to beat a team that beat you last year," Valkin said.

The netmen are in action again today against Pennsylvania (14-3, 4-0), the top team in the EITA going into this weekend.

The Quakers have already defeated a strong Princeton team and have moved up to 44th in the Rolex Collegiate Rankings. Weather permitting, the matches will be played outdoors at Beren Tennis Center.

The Crimson victory yesterday, however, will not erase the memories of the five California defeats.

"The California trip was vital for us as a team," Rueb said. "We had to suck up a couple of losses, but we can use them as fodder for our cannons through the Ivy season."