Little Sunshine in California for Crimson

Ah, the warm sun, the gentle breeze, the beautiful climate of California during spring break could make anyone, even a driven Harvard student, into a lethargic mess for a week.

That's exactly what happened to the Harvard men's tennis team over spring break, as it returned from California almost empty-handed with one win and three losses. The trip dropped the Crimson's record to 9-8, but more importantly hurt the momentum the team wants going into the Ivy League season.

On Sunday, Mar. 26, Harvard witnessed the biggest win ever for a tennis program. Unfortunately, not Harvard.

Playing against a historically weak Santa Clara team, Harvard fell 4-3 in a meet that came down to the final minutes.

Crimson freshman Dave Lingman, playing at No. 2 singles, won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, over Ryan Livesay, and junior Anthony Barker defeated Marcell Hlousek, 6-2, 6-1, to give Harvard an early lead. The Crimson also swept the doubles, giving it a 3-0 lead.

Broncos freshman Federico Mattioli then beat sophomore Cillie Swart 6-1, 6-3, at No. 5, and teammate Scott Watters defeated another Harvard sophomore, William Lee, 6-2, 6-3, to pull Santa Clara to within one point. The final two matches would decide the outcome.

Lars Nelson overcame a poor second set to defeat Crimson co-captain Joe Green, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to tie the match. The final game of the afternoon was at No. 4 singles, where Harvard junior Andrew Styperek was taking on Matt Cox. Cox won the first set 7-6 (7-4) lost the second 6-7 (7-2) and then broke at 5-4 in the third to win the match 6-4.

The win was Santa Clara's first victory over a nationally ranked opponent. Harvard was No. 66 going into the match.

On Mar. 28, the Crimson played a match in which it didn't really stand a chance. Taking on No. 3 Stanford at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Harvard couldn't even take a point, losing 7-0.

The Cardinal's top player and the No. 1 ranked player in the country, K.J. Hippensteel, began his comeback from mononucleosis. Hippensteel, paired up with David Martin, took on Swart and co-captain John Doran, also battling injury, at No. 2 doubles. The Stanford duo won 9-8 and their teammates at No. 1 then clinched the doubles point.

Stanford continued the rout in singles. Boasting four of the top 100 individual players in the country including Alex Kim, ranked No. 2 overall in the nation , the Cardinal didn't drop a set to Harvard.

Kim defeated Green, 6-2, 6-2, and at No. 2 Geoff Abrams defeated Lingman, 6-1, 6-4. Doran, now playing at No. 3, made a good fight but lost to Scotty Scott 7-5, 6-3. The rest of the singles players from Harvard barely made a whisper in defeat, going easily to the stronger Cardinal players.

Harvard got a day off on Mar. 29th before heading to Berkeley to play California, but even the rest day brought bad news.

The newly released Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings came out that day. Harvard, which in the past month dropped from a top-25 team to No. 66, was not even listed in the new rankings of approximately the top 75 teams. Its next opponent, California, had risen to No. 35 in the ITA polls.

The next afternoon, the Bears showed why they were so highly ranked, easily dismantling the Crimson 6-1. First, the three doubles teams all lost. Then, an attempt to shake up the singles line-up by Harvard Coach Dave Fish'72 backfired. Doran, playing at No. 1, lost a three-set match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, to Eric Dmytruk. Green, at No. 2, dropped to John Fruttero 6-2, 6-3. Lingman had Harvard's sole win at No. 3, coming from behind to best Robert Kowalczyk 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Harvard lost the last three singles matches, including a "double-bagel", a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing by Scott Kintz over Styperek at No. 5 singles.

The final match of the spring break trip was the only one Harvard could feel proud about. Playing against the No. 43 University of the Pacific, in Stockton, the Crimson pulled itself together and executed a 5-2 upset over the Tigers. Harvard won two of the three doubles, including Doran and Swart's tense 9-8 (3) win at No. 1, to get the doubles point.

In the singles, Doran fought against Dietrich Haug at No. 1, with both men battling back before Haug retired with an injury at 2-2 in the third set. Lingman, this time playing at No. 2, lost to Thomas Guilloteau, 6-4, 7-5 to make the score 2-1. Green then beat Tobias Abrahamsson in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Freshman Kiteh Kim, playing at No. 6, then clinched the victory with a win over Christian Kauth, 6-2, 6-2.

The Crimson will start the Ivy season soon after returning from break, but it won't be easy, as several Ivy League opponents, including Princeton and Cornell, are nationally ranked. Harvard may not have benefited from the trip in terms of rankings, but playing against top foes like Stanford and Pacific may have readied it for easier opponents.