Win Over Yale Clinches Ivy Title for M. Tennis

Though Friday’s match at Brown proved the No. 22 Harvard men’s tennis team’s most exciting, it was yesterday’s home contest against No. 71 Yale, a 6-1 Crimson victory, which solidified an NCAA tournament bid and at least a share of the Ivy championship.

The Crimson (16-6, 6-0 Ivy) defeated the No. 50 Bears 5-2 to enter the weekend, and though Brown (17-5, 5-1) was the only other undefeated Ivy, Harvard still had to overpower the Bulldogs (8-11, 3-3) to clinch a third straight NCAA bid—that is, even if the Crimson lost to either Yale or Dartmouth on Wednesday and the Bears tied for the Ivy crown, the NCAA would accept the head-to-head winner, Harvard.

And despite all the excitement of its previous match, the Crimson arrived at Beren Tennis Center prepared to play.

“The coach did a good job of trying to get us in the right place mentally,” said senior Chris Chiou of a possible letdown following the Bears match. “It’s dangerous coming back and playing a match like this just a couple days after a big match like Brown.”

But, as associate coach Peter Mandeau pointed out, yesterday was Harvard-Yale.

“Harvard-Yale is always a serious match,” Mandeau explained. “Whether either team is good in a particular year doesn’t matter as much as the Harvard-Yale rivalry.”

And in this particular year, the Crimson is good. It took less than an hour for Harvard to solidify the doubles point, dropping only five games in the three matches.

The second duo of senior Mark Riddell and co-captain David Lingman—who clinched the all-important doubles point for the Crimson on Friday in a tiebreak—were first to finish, blanking the Bulldogs 8-0.

The clincher came when the third-seeded pairing of Chiou and junior Martin Wetzel won 8-2. The top duo of sophomore Brandon Chiu and junior Jonathan Chu, now a perfect 6-0 in Ivy play, were last and completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 victory.

Following the doubles dominance, Harvard needed just three singles victories to clinch a win, a share of the Ivy title, and an NCAA bid. And it didn’t take long to secure all three.

Chu, playing the second singles match, scored an quick 6-2, 6-2 victory.

“Jonathan’s playing with a lot of confidence,” Mandeau offered after the win, Chu’s fourth in a row.

Lingman followed suit with a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing in the top slot, playing what Mandeau deemed “an especially good match” and Harvard was now just a point away.

And sure enough, Wetzel sealed the match with a booming serve and a 6-3, 6-4 win, to the delight of his teammates, coaches, and fans.

“It feels good,” Chiou said of the team’s Ivy title, which could be Harvard’s alone with a win against Dartmouth on Wednesday. “We want to do a lot more than just win the Ivies, but it feels good.”

Chiou finished right behind Wetzel, his 7-5, 6-4 victory all the more satisfying following his doubles and singles losses in Providence just two days before.

“That carried over a little bit today,” Chiou admitted. “My emotions were kind of in different places, so it was hard. I had a slow start today, but I managed to pick it up in the end, I guess.”

Riddell ultimately won his match 7-5, 6-2, and senior George Turner, whose sets often stretch longer than others’ matches, ended up losing 7-6, 6-4.

Still, the Crimson’s solid victory proved encouraging, especially after the draining, six-hour duel against the Bears.

And so Harvard looks forward to Wednesday’s match against the Big Green—the final regular season match for five Crimson seniors. But with the excitement of this weekend, the team is ready to look forward.

“We’re excited about the [Brown win and the Ivy title], but it’s just a step forward towards the NCAAs, and we’ve got to start preparing for that, because we can’t take anyone lightly,” Chiu said.