M. Tennis Wins ECACs

This season is beginning to look more and more like last season for the Harvard men's tennis team.

Once again the team has taken home the ECAC Tournament title and looks to be the dominating team in the upper half of the East Coast.

Once again the team defeated a tough Virginia Tech team to take the title as Scott Clark once again finished the Hokies off with a tough three set match.

Once again injuries are altering the Crimson lineup, and once again the team has not skipped a beat because of its amazing depth.

When Scott Clark dominated his third set against Virginia Tech's Raoule Basole to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 and put the finishing touches on the Hokies yesterday in Princeton, N.J., it put an end to a triumphant but possibly costly tournament for the Crimson.

As Clark struggled with his opponent, things were not looking particularly good for the Crimson. The doubles point was in hand and junior Joe Green had quickly dispatched of his opponent 6-2, 6-2 to put the Crimson up 2-0 in the early going. However, sophomore James Blake had split sets with Aaron Marchetti, junior John Doran had fallen in straight sets to Adam Marchetti and sophomore Andrew Styperek had lost the second set 6-3 after taking the first 6-2. Styperek went on to lose the third set 6-4, putting the match at 2-2.

Co-captain Mike Passarella was in a whole different predicament. The senior came into the tournament with nagging injuries and had battled through two three-setters earlier in the weekend. Eventually a pulled stomach muscle and a troubled knee began to act up.

"I couldn't serve too well because of the stomach," said Passarella. "It was definitely kind of stupid to get into those three-setters early on. Normally when you play weaker teams you do not expect to struggle, but it did not work out for me. We were struggling, and my opponent won the first set. I ended up saving a couple match points in the second and ended up winning the set. The guy was basically handling me the match."

Passarella continued to grind while the rest of the team took care of its business. Blake completed his turnaround, earning his third three-set win in the four-daytournament.

"I played [Aaron Marchetti] twice last year andtraveled with him this summer," said Blake. "He isa grinder with a lot of talent, and I expected atough match. After the first I just tried to hangin there and get into the match. I put thepressure on and tried to make him make greatshots. I knew that if it was close at the end Iwould have a chance; I pride myself on coming upbig on the big points."

That's just what Blake did, taking the finalset 7-5 and setting the stage for Clark'sclinching win.

Passarella's match was stopped at 1-1 in thethird set creating the 4-2 final score.

The Crimson got the finals off on the rightfoot with a surprising 3-0 sweep of the doublesmatches against Virginia Tech.

An injury to co-captain Kunj Majmudar's lowerback early in his doubles match against Princetonon Sunday had left the Crimson shuffling itsdoubles lineup right before the biggest match ofthe season thus far.

"We were forced to use a doubles lineup thathadn't been used before," Assistant Coach PeterMandeau said.

Blake, Majmudar's regular partner at No. 1doubles, was teamed with fellow sophomoreStyperek, who himself was pressed into action thisweekend due to injuries to freshmen Cillie Swartand William Lee. Blake and Styperek--playingtogether for the first time--looked like oldpartners in an easy 8-1 win at second doubles.

"It was tough for me, I am used to playing withKunj; we have had a lot of success over the end oflast year and the beginning of this year," Blakesaid. "I have been counting on him because healmost never gets injured, but he went down, andStyperek played great. He's got a big serve andgreat hands, and we clicked really quickly andmade a good team."

The consistently successful team of Passarellaand Clark continued its stellar doubles play fromearlier in the weekend and took the third doublesmatch 8-6.

However, the big surprise was at No. 1 doubles,where the Hokies boast one of the best teams inthe nation--the 10th-ranked Marchetti brothers,Aaron and Adam.

Up against this dynamic duo the Crimson sentits own set of relatives, cousins Doran and Green.Green had been kept out of the doubles lineup allweekend to keep an injured knee as fresh aspossible. And while the cousins had not playedtogether all year, that is not to say they wereunfamiliar with each other--the pair were theIrish National Champions in the junior ranks.

The Irishmen set about their business of takingon the Marchetti brothers like they had beenplaying together all season. The pair kept itclose and managed a tight 9-7 victory.

"I was surprised, but both of them have biggames and the talent," Blake said. "Both of themcame out fired up and ready to play. When you getthe opportunity to play a top ten team, you wantto capitalize on it, and that's what they did. TheMarchettis played a good match, but our guys cameup with the big shots when it counted."

Just as facing the Marchettis fired up Doranand Green, opponents all season have been gunningfor Harvard's Blake, fourth-ranked nationally inthe preseason. This helps to explain Blake'srelative difficulty over the weekend.

Blake still posted a 4-0 singles record overthe tournament, but three times the All-Americanwas stretched to three sets.

"It was something I had to get used to over thelast couple of years," Blake said. "For some guys[facing me] is the biggest match of the year. Lastyear I may have just relaxed with the belief thatI should win no matter what, but now I go afterthem with the same intensity they have."

One of those tough three-setters was in thesemifinals against host Princeton. The Tigers' No.1, Kyle Kleigerman, won the second set 6-3 afterdropping the first 6-2. Blake won the third set6-1.

"Kleigerman played really well, he hasdefinitely improved since last year," said Blake."I did not feel comfortable during the match andmy legs were not into it for some reason, but Iknew the team match was close, so in the third setI just put more pressure on him and tried to makehim keep hitting great shots.

"That might be the difference between the topplayers and the rest: he couldn't come up with thebig shots in the third when I put lots of pressureon," he said.

The match against Princeton was tightthroughout. The Crimson clinched the doubles point2-1 with Passarella and Clark's 8-4 win at seconddoubles. The miraculous victory was at firstdoubles where Majmudar and Blake dealt withadversity in amazing fashion.

"I just got up from the changeover and my lowerback went out," Majmudar said. "The trainerthought something slipped out but wasn't skilledenough to treat it."

The interesting part is that the injuryoccurred at 1-0, the first changeover of thematch. With Majmudar largely immobilized, theHarvard team had to be creative.

"I really couldn't serve and was just gettingit in, which left James to cover a lot of thecourt," said Majmudar. "We broke in the firstgame, and I thought if I could just hold serve,even though I was hurt, we wouldn't have to domuch more. The other team didn't do much to moveme around and take advantage of the injury."

The 8-4 win was the key in securing the alwaysimportant doubles point. With Majmudar suddenlyout of the lineup, everyone below him would haveto move up and step up his play.

The sixth spot was now filled by Styperek,seeing his first singles action of the weekend.Things did not turn out as the sophomore hoped asPrinceton's Alex Zacharia won easily--6-2, 6-4.

Clark, moving up to fourth singles, alsostruggled in a three-set loss. The Crimson got akey victory from John Doran at No. 2 singles as hedefeated Judson Williams 6-2, 7-6(7-4).

Green, a relatively inexperienced player whoplayed spectacularly all weekend, registered theclinching point. His 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory overKevin Woo propelled the Crimson into the finalsagainst Virginia Tech.

"Today we were fortunate to have gotten a goodmatch from Princeton," Passarella said. "When Kunjwent down, we knew it was going to be a toughmatch."

The Crimson's first two rounds had neither thedrama nor the significance of the two finalmatches. On Saturday the team cruised past aweaker Army team 7-0.

The only match that was in doubt wasPassarella's at No. 4 singles. The senior alwaysseems to find himself in--and emerging victoriousfrom--three-setters.

"Mike is very tenacious," Mandeau said. "Healways competes well and has played in a number ofthree-setters over the years."

The co-captain took the first set 6-2, droppedthe second 4-6, and finally pulled it out 7-5 inthe third.

The pattern had already been made familiar inthe Crimson's first round match against St.John's.

In that match, Passarella won the first 6-3 anddropped the second 1-6. Passarella pulled it outin this one as well, taking the third 6-3.

In another dominating 7-0 Harvard victory, onlyBlake was also stretched to three sets by hisopponent. Blake was forced into a first settiebreaker, which he won 7-4. However, the secondset went to the St. John's opponent 3-6. Blakeclosed out the match 6-3 in the third.

The ECAC title not only solidifies Harvard'sspot at the top of the regional tennis ranks butalso qualifies the squad for February's NCAAIndoor Championships.

"This is great, especially because we get to goto National Indoors," Passarella said. "Twelve ofthe top 16 teams will be there, so we can get morenational experience. It is also great to win theECAC."

Perhaps the most important lesson learned fromthe weekend was that the Crimson may be just asdeep as it was last year, an invaluable qualityfor one of the top teams in the nation.

"Last year we had success utilizing 11 or 12guys who saw action," Mandeau said. "Generallyteams bring six or eight players. The depth of oursquad allows us to compete at a high level evenwith a spate of injuries."

With its second straight ECAC title in hand, anamazingly deep but banged-up team, and Scott Clarkwinning big matches, things are beginning to looka lot like last year.

Once again, that bodes well for the Harvardmen's tennis team.Crimson File PhotoUP A BLAKE: Sophomore JAMES BLAKEwent undefeated in four matches this weekend.

"I played [Aaron Marchetti] twice last year andtraveled with him this summer," said Blake. "He isa grinder with a lot of talent, and I expected atough match. After the first I just tried to hangin there and get into the match. I put thepressure on and tried to make him make greatshots. I knew that if it was close at the end Iwould have a chance; I pride myself on coming upbig on the big points."

That's just what Blake did, taking the finalset 7-5 and setting the stage for Clark'sclinching win.

Passarella's match was stopped at 1-1 in thethird set creating the 4-2 final score.

The Crimson got the finals off on the rightfoot with a surprising 3-0 sweep of the doublesmatches against Virginia Tech.

An injury to co-captain Kunj Majmudar's lowerback early in his doubles match against Princetonon Sunday had left the Crimson shuffling itsdoubles lineup right before the biggest match ofthe season thus far.

"We were forced to use a doubles lineup thathadn't been used before," Assistant Coach PeterMandeau said.

Blake, Majmudar's regular partner at No. 1doubles, was teamed with fellow sophomoreStyperek, who himself was pressed into action thisweekend due to injuries to freshmen Cillie Swartand William Lee. Blake and Styperek--playingtogether for the first time--looked like oldpartners in an easy 8-1 win at second doubles.

"It was tough for me, I am used to playing withKunj; we have had a lot of success over the end oflast year and the beginning of this year," Blakesaid. "I have been counting on him because healmost never gets injured, but he went down, andStyperek played great. He's got a big serve andgreat hands, and we clicked really quickly andmade a good team."

The consistently successful team of Passarellaand Clark continued its stellar doubles play fromearlier in the weekend and took the third doublesmatch 8-6.

However, the big surprise was at No. 1 doubles,where the Hokies boast one of the best teams inthe nation--the 10th-ranked Marchetti brothers,Aaron and Adam.

Up against this dynamic duo the Crimson sentits own set of relatives, cousins Doran and Green.Green had been kept out of the doubles lineup allweekend to keep an injured knee as fresh aspossible. And while the cousins had not playedtogether all year, that is not to say they wereunfamiliar with each other--the pair were theIrish National Champions in the junior ranks.

The Irishmen set about their business of takingon the Marchetti brothers like they had beenplaying together all season. The pair kept itclose and managed a tight 9-7 victory.

"I was surprised, but both of them have biggames and the talent," Blake said. "Both of themcame out fired up and ready to play. When you getthe opportunity to play a top ten team, you wantto capitalize on it, and that's what they did. TheMarchettis played a good match, but our guys cameup with the big shots when it counted."

Just as facing the Marchettis fired up Doranand Green, opponents all season have been gunningfor Harvard's Blake, fourth-ranked nationally inthe preseason. This helps to explain Blake'srelative difficulty over the weekend.

Blake still posted a 4-0 singles record overthe tournament, but three times the All-Americanwas stretched to three sets.

"It was something I had to get used to over thelast couple of years," Blake said. "For some guys[facing me] is the biggest match of the year. Lastyear I may have just relaxed with the belief thatI should win no matter what, but now I go afterthem with the same intensity they have."

One of those tough three-setters was in thesemifinals against host Princeton. The Tigers' No.1, Kyle Kleigerman, won the second set 6-3 afterdropping the first 6-2. Blake won the third set6-1.

"Kleigerman played really well, he hasdefinitely improved since last year," said Blake."I did not feel comfortable during the match andmy legs were not into it for some reason, but Iknew the team match was close, so in the third setI just put more pressure on him and tried to makehim keep hitting great shots.

"That might be the difference between the topplayers and the rest: he couldn't come up with thebig shots in the third when I put lots of pressureon," he said.

The match against Princeton was tightthroughout. The Crimson clinched the doubles point2-1 with Passarella and Clark's 8-4 win at seconddoubles. The miraculous victory was at firstdoubles where Majmudar and Blake dealt withadversity in amazing fashion.

"I just got up from the changeover and my lowerback went out," Majmudar said. "The trainerthought something slipped out but wasn't skilledenough to treat it."

The interesting part is that the injuryoccurred at 1-0, the first changeover of thematch. With Majmudar largely immobilized, theHarvard team had to be creative.

"I really couldn't serve and was just gettingit in, which left James to cover a lot of thecourt," said Majmudar. "We broke in the firstgame, and I thought if I could just hold serve,even though I was hurt, we wouldn't have to domuch more. The other team didn't do much to moveme around and take advantage of the injury."

The 8-4 win was the key in securing the alwaysimportant doubles point. With Majmudar suddenlyout of the lineup, everyone below him would haveto move up and step up his play.

The sixth spot was now filled by Styperek,seeing his first singles action of the weekend.Things did not turn out as the sophomore hoped asPrinceton's Alex Zacharia won easily--6-2, 6-4.

Clark, moving up to fourth singles, alsostruggled in a three-set loss. The Crimson got akey victory from John Doran at No. 2 singles as hedefeated Judson Williams 6-2, 7-6(7-4).

Green, a relatively inexperienced player whoplayed spectacularly all weekend, registered theclinching point. His 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory overKevin Woo propelled the Crimson into the finalsagainst Virginia Tech.

"Today we were fortunate to have gotten a goodmatch from Princeton," Passarella said. "When Kunjwent down, we knew it was going to be a toughmatch."

The Crimson's first two rounds had neither thedrama nor the significance of the two finalmatches. On Saturday the team cruised past aweaker Army team 7-0.

The only match that was in doubt wasPassarella's at No. 4 singles. The senior alwaysseems to find himself in--and emerging victoriousfrom--three-setters.

"Mike is very tenacious," Mandeau said. "Healways competes well and has played in a number ofthree-setters over the years."

The co-captain took the first set 6-2, droppedthe second 4-6, and finally pulled it out 7-5 inthe third.

The pattern had already been made familiar inthe Crimson's first round match against St.John's.

In that match, Passarella won the first 6-3 anddropped the second 1-6. Passarella pulled it outin this one as well, taking the third 6-3.

In another dominating 7-0 Harvard victory, onlyBlake was also stretched to three sets by hisopponent. Blake was forced into a first settiebreaker, which he won 7-4. However, the secondset went to the St. John's opponent 3-6. Blakeclosed out the match 6-3 in the third.

The ECAC title not only solidifies Harvard'sspot at the top of the regional tennis ranks butalso qualifies the squad for February's NCAAIndoor Championships.

"This is great, especially because we get to goto National Indoors," Passarella said. "Twelve ofthe top 16 teams will be there, so we can get morenational experience. It is also great to win theECAC."

Perhaps the most important lesson learned fromthe weekend was that the Crimson may be just asdeep as it was last year, an invaluable qualityfor one of the top teams in the nation.

"Last year we had success utilizing 11 or 12guys who saw action," Mandeau said. "Generallyteams bring six or eight players. The depth of oursquad allows us to compete at a high level evenwith a spate of injuries."

With its second straight ECAC title in hand, anamazingly deep but banged-up team, and Scott Clarkwinning big matches, things are beginning to looka lot like last year.

Once again, that bodes well for the Harvardmen's tennis team.Crimson File PhotoUP A BLAKE: Sophomore JAMES BLAKEwent undefeated in four matches this weekend.