M. Tennis Splits Squad, Still Succeeds

Playing with a split squad, the Harvard men's tennis team concluded a successful weekend at the Dartmouth Invitational and at the Penn Conference Classic.

Freshman Mark Riddell won the men's final of the Invitational and Cliff Nguyen and George Turner won the doubles finals of the Classic.

At Dartmouth, Riddell faced fellow Crimson freshman Ryan Browne in the men's final and defeated him 6-5(7-4), 0-6, 6-4.

Riddell's road to the finals began with a victory over Brown's Jonathon Argo. In the next round, Riddell faced a stiff challenge from Scott Carleton of Yale. Riddell finally pull out the win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In the quarterfinals, Riddell cruised past UNLV's Greg Skorin in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3 before crushing Yale's Greg Royce, 6-2, 6-2 in the semis.

"It was a good weekend for us," Browne said. "We competed very well."

After the opening day, Crimson players had earned three quarterfinal berths, with wins by Browne, Riddell and junior Dali Snyder

Snyder earned a tremendous victory by surprising Dartmouth's No. 1 player, Jeff Sloves, in front of the Dartmouth faithful. Snyder defeated Sloves in three sets, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, after defeating Yale's Andrew Rosenfeld, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round, to reach the quarterfinals.

No. 1 Browne first defeated Dartmouth's Parashar Ranade 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 16, then reached the finals by defeating Dartmouth's Neal Bobba, 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals and UNLV's Leslie Eisingg, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals.

Crimson co-captain Anthony Barker won his opening singles match against Dartmouth's Jonathan Powell, 6-1, 6-1, but fell to Skorin, 5-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4. Fellow co-captain Michael Rich was also eliminated by losing in straight sets to Royce, 6-5, 6-2.

In doubles action, Riddell and Browne teamed to defeat Dartmouth's Greg D'Incelli and Borko Kerseshi to reach the semifinals, while Rich and junior Cille Swart upset Royce and Scott Carleton, 8-5. Riddell and Browne then defaulted in the semis against Rich and Swart.

Rich and Swart then faced Brown's Argo and Kris Goddard in the doubles finals. Rich and Swart's attempt to complete a Crimson sweep of the finals fell short, however, as they lost in a close match, 8-7 (9-7).

In their opening matches, Snyder and Barker beat Yale's Rosenfeld and Dustin West, 8-4, and Rich and Swart defeated Dartmouth's Harlan Thompson and Rob Pringle, 8-7.

Barker and Snyder upset No. 3 Skorin and Eisingg in the quarterfinals, 8-7 (7-4), before losing to Argo and Goddard.

At Penn, with Crimson players holding three of the four semifinal doubles spots and an all- Crimson final, Nguyen and Turner defeated freshman Bo Wiegand and sophomore Oliver Choo, 8-6, to take the doubles title.

In singles, Harvard also secured three quarterfinal berths in the first day.

Junior William Lee won his opening match and then eliminated Quaker captain Eric Szobotka, 6-5, 6-4, in the round of 16. However, Lee was defeated by freshman teammate Nguyen, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

Choo and Nguyen, who also won their opening round matches, came within one tiebreak each of reaching the singles finals. However, they were ousted by Columbia's Oscar Chow and Pavel Jefferson in the semis.

Choo upset No. 3 Ryan Harwood of Penn, 4-6, 6-5 (7-3), 6-2, in the quarterfinals, but fell to unseeded Jefferson, 6-3, 6-5 (7-2), in the semis.

Nguyen, after defeating Lee, was edged out in the semis, 2-6, 6-2, 6-5(7-1) by Chow.

"This was a great learning weekend for us," said Harvard Assistant Coach Peter Mandeau. "Since this is a young team, each opportunity to gain experience helps us build towards the future."