M. Tennis May Earn NCAA Berth With Win

With a dominating 6-1 win over Dartmouth, Harvard capped off its Ivy season and may have secured itself a bid in the NCAA Team Championship.

“By winning today, it’s highly likely we’ll get a bid to the tournament,” Associate Men’s Tennis Coach Peter Mandeau said.

Harvard (14-5, 6-1 Ivy) controlled the match throughout, sweeping the doubles matches and dropping only one of six singles matches to the Big Green (12-9, 3-4).

“We had all our cylinders going today,” freshman Jonathan Chu said.

“I thought they bounced back well from the weekend,” Mandeau added. “The guys were determined to close out our dual-season with a win.”

Playing No. 1 doubles, co- captain Dalibor Snyder and Chu ran off an 8-4 victory. Co-captain William Lee and sophomore partner Chris Chiou easily took their match 8-2, as did junior Dave Lingman and sophomore Mark Riddell at the No. 3 slot.

The Crimson’s march through the Big Green singles’ ranks was accomplished with equal ease. Chu, Riddell, Turner and Choo all won in two sets. Lingman, playing, No. 2 singles, dropped the first set 4-6 to Dartmouth’s Chris Gonyer. Lingman dug down and took the second and third sets 6-3, 6-2 to win the point for Harvard.

The Crimson’s lone loss on the day came when Dartmouth’s Neal Bobba defeated Lee in the No. 4 singles. That defeat did nothing to tarnish the Harvard victory and capped off a perfect home season for Harvard.

The Crimson went 4-0 at the Beren Tennis Center this spring, a streak with repercussions that may be felt in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s really good to come back from a heart-breaking loss to Brown and finish 6-1 in the Ivies,” Chu said.

Heading into the match against Dartmouth, Harvard was ranked No. 32 in the country, and stands a good chance of capturing an at-large bid to the NCAA Team Tournament. Similar to March Madness, there is a 64-team field and Harvard, with its prominent national ranking, is likely to receive a bid despite losing out on the guaranteed spot the Ivy title provides.

The Crimson was also the highest-ranked team in the northeastern region. As such, Harvard submitted a bid to host the first two rounds of NCAAs on May 10th-12th and stands a good chance of being named a host.

Based on pairings and geography, the Crimson is likely to draw a No. 4 or 5 bid in its region. Mandeau speculated that teams like Florida, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee or Notre Dame could be ranked above Harvard in that bracket.

Given the Crimson’s success at home this year, the team is looking forward to the opportunity and advantage that competing in the playoffs on home court would provide.

“We’re playing well at home, and if we get to host NCAAs, we’re looking forward to what that’ll bring us,” Chu said.