M. Tennis Falls to Baylor in NCAA Second Round

After winning its first round match against Notre Dame on Saturday, the Harvard men's tennis team lost to Baylor yesterday in the second round of the NCAA Championships, ending its successful season with a 21-4 record.

The Crimson, ranked No. 19 in the nation, defeated No. 30 Notre Dame (17-7> on Saturday, 4-2, but then fell to No. 10 Baylor (22-3), 4-1.

The teams faced off at Indiana State, one of the 16 sites around the country that held the first and second round matches of this year's NCAAs.

For each of the 16 pools, one team is drawn from each quarter of the top 64 teams in the nation. No. 63 Indiana State was the other team in the Crimson's preliminary group.

The top performing team from each site will now travel to the University of Georgia and the Round of 16, which begins on May 22.

The Crimson had won nine straight matches entering the weekend, and had advanced to the Round of 16 in each of the past three seasons. Saturday's match would provide Harvard with its tenth straight victim.

Strong doubles play gave the Crimson its first point of the day. Doubles has been a key to the Crimson's strength all season, and when it captures the doubles point, Harvard usually takes the match.

Co-captain Kunj Majmudar and sophomore James Blake, currently the No. 3 doubles team in the country, took the first match, 8-6. Playing at Harvard's No. 2 position, junior Joe Green and sophomore Scott Clark won 8-6, and clinching the first point for the Crimson.

Singles play featured the premier No. 1 singles contest on the first day of the championships. Blake, the country's No. 1 singles player, faced Notre Dame's big gun, Ryan Sachire, the third ranked player in the country. In a back-and-forth, three set battle, Blake came out on top as he has for most of the season, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The teams split the next three singles matches. At the No. 3 position, Majmudar lost, 6-3, 6-4; Clark lost 6-4, 6-0 in the No. 6 position; but at No. 6, Mike Passarella proved victorious, 6-4, 6-1.

With Harvard clinging to a 3-2 lead, the team's fate now lay in the hands of its own Irishmen, junior John Doran and Green, both natives of Dublin.

Playing at No. 2, Doran won the first set 6-3 and battled back from a 2-5 deficit in the second to force a tiebreaker, while countryman Green was up a set and locked at five games a piece in the second.

Green broke his opponent and won the twelfth game of the set to clinch the match and a berth in the second round, 6-3, 7-5.

With the match in the bag, Doran's, match was cancelled.

After a clean win and a short rest, the Crimson returned Sunday morning looking for an upset that was not to be.

In the Baylor Bears the Crimson faced a much tougher opponent. The Bears finished their regular season with an impressive 22-3 record, finishing second in the Big 12, losing to No.4 Texas in the finals.

The Bears made quick work of the hosts, Indiana State, on the first day of the championships, taking the match 4-1.

The Crimson began the morning with confidence, looking to dominate doubles as it had the day before. In the beginning, it looked as though the Crimson might get the first point of its upset.

At No. 2, Green and Clark got off to a quick start, going up a break early on in the match. The No.1 team of Blake and Majmudar and the No.3 team of Passarella and Doran were both trading service games.

Scoring first for Harvard, Green and Clark closed out their match and pulled up a couple of chairs to watch the remaining sets. Alas, their work was in vain.

Blake and Majumdar fell apart and dropped their match 8-3. And although they extended their match to 6-7, Passarella and Doran could not hold out and lost 8-6, as well.

Not used to going a point down before singles play, Harvard had to settle down and capture four of six singles matches to get the tickets to Georgia.

Blake started the play off with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Johann Jooste, the No.16 player in the country. Meanwhile, in what was his last match in a long Harvard career, Passarella dropped a hard-fought match 6-4, 6-2.

With the score now 2-1 in favor of the Bears, things looked dim for the Crimson. At No.5, Clark had won his first set but was down in the second. No.2 Doran, No.3 Majmudar and No.4 Green had all lost their first sets and now needed to win two straight to get the point.

With a persistence that has characterized its whole season, Harvard did not roll over. Doran kicked it into gear, winning the second and going up a break at the beginning of the third. And although he lost the second, Clark also went up in his third set.

It was the Bears' day, however, as they dominated the middle of the line up and got the win. Despite his strong first set play, Green lost 7-6, 6-0. Majmudar was simply overpowered, losing 6-2, 6-2. With the winner decided, the remaining matches were cancelled.

Baylor now moves on to face No. 2 seed Stanford (20-2) in the Round of 16.

Harvard had reached the Round of 16 in each of the last three years, including a near upset of the third seed Georgia Bull-dogs in last year's quarterfinals.

Although the team will not travel to the Peach State this weekend, Blake and Majmudar will represent the team in the individual tournament. The two will team up for doubles, and both of them will play for the singles title. Blake is the man to beat, and received the first seed. Majmudar, who went up and down the singles ranking all season, is seeded No. 48.

The NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament begins on May 26 in Atlanta, Geo.