M. Tennis Sweeps First Dual Match Weekend

This past weekend, the Harvard men's tennis opened its dual match season with a bang. The Crimson (2-0) swept the weekend, beating Tulsa (4-1) on Saturday, and dominating Kentucky yesterday.

Tulsa, ranked No. 29 in the country, took the doubles point to open up the match at the Murr Center courts.

Playing No. 2 doubles for the Crimson, junior Dalibor Snyder and sophomore Oliver Choo were able to defeat the Golden Hurricane duo of Pavel Sebastyanski and Steve Timperley, 8-4.

Tulsa, however, took the other two doubles matches, and thus claimed the first point of the match. The Golden Hurricane also gained some important momentum.

"It's great to get the doubles point to start a match. We didn't," said co-captain Anthony Barker. "We had to regroup, and go out and get those guys."

The Crimson got what it wanted in the singles competition.

Harvard was able to take four of the six singles matches against the Golden Hurricane, giving it a 4-3 victory on the day.

The middle of the Crimson order played well, and needed to, as its top two players fell to Tulsa. Harvard's three through six slots rebounded and led the charge. Barker and freshmen Mark Riddell and George Turner were victorious for the Crimson.

"We have some young guys on the team," Barker said. "But everyone played exceptionally well."

The most intense moment of the match was the deciding contest, between Crimson junior William Lee and Tulsa junior Shriranga Sudhaker. Playing out of the third spot, the match decided which school would claim victory.

"Will was diving all over the place. It was exciting tennis," Barker said of the Lee/Sudhaker match. "He really got the crowd behind him."

Lee prevailed after after trailing 2-4 in the tiebreaker, 7-6(4), 7-5(5).

The Crimson followed its upset over Tulsa by taking out the Wildcats the next afternoon, 5-2.

This time, Harvard was able to jump out into the lead as it won the doubles point to start the match. Barker and

Turner stormed to an 8-6 win over Matt Emery and Rahim Esmail. Harvard clinched the team doubles point when Lee and freshman Cliff Nguyen secured an 8-6 victory over Edo Bowano and Rajev Stephens.

To contrast its singles success from the previous day, five of Harvard's six singles matches dropped the first set. Riddell was the lone Crimson competitor to take his first set, but still had to battle three sets to defeat Esmail, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Lee was able to come back after losing the intitial set, and defeated Gustav Pousette, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. After Choo and Barker fell to Wildcats, the Crimson was ahead, 3-2.

Turner demonstrated the poise of a veteran, as his 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Karim Benmansour locked up the match for the Crimson.

Harvard went into the weekend ranked No. 52, but its sweep should boost its standing. The team next heads to Florida on March 2-3, to take on University of South Florida in Tampa and Clemson in Miami.