SPORTS BRIEF: Men’s tennis team strong from outset in victory over Dartmouth

In its final match of the season, the Harvard men’s tennis team took an early lead and never looked back, defeating Dartmouth 5-2 yesterday at the Beren Tennis Center.

The Crimson raced out to a 1-0 advantage, sweeping all three of the doubles matches to secure the doubles point.

Harvard’s combo of Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov took the top match, 8-6. Scott Denenberg and Gideon Valkin immediately followed with an 8-5 victory on Court 2, while the duo of co-captains Brandon Chiu and Caleb Gardner completed the sweep on Court 3 with an 8-6 win.

“I was really happy that I got to play with [Caleb],” Chiu said. “This was a great way to finish off both of our careers in college.”

In singles action, Chiu capped off his final tennis match at Harvard with a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 4.

Serving at deuce in the final game, Chiu put an ace past his Big Green opponent to take the advantage. He then finished his career with a strong forehand that found the deep left corner.

“I felt like a part of me didn’t want to finish,” Chiu added of his final point. “But another part of me wanted to finish off in style. I was a little conflicted.”

“How great it was to see Brandon...play so well in his last match,” coach Dave Fish ’72 said, adding, “[he] just demolished the guy.”

Chiu finished his Crimson career on a seven-match win streak that includes singles and doubles play and stretches back to April 14.

At No. 1, Kumar put Harvard up 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory 1, and freshman Nick Savage clinched the match at No. 5.

Freshman Michael Kalfayan picked up the Crimson’s final point at No. 6.