Bulldogs Come From Behind to Edge Men's Tennis

The Harvard men’s tennis team lost, 4-3, to a talented 67th-ranked Fresno State squad Thursday evening.

Playing under the lights at the Wathen Tennis Center, the Crimson could not contain the Bulldogs’ surge during singles play, as a 2-0 Harvard lead turned into a 4-2 cushion for the home team.

“It was tough to lose,” said Crimson coach Dave Fish ’72, “but I felt that to come out of there with a win last night would have been almost heroic.”

The Bulldogs clinched the victory with a win in the second to last match to end.

At No. 6, Sasha Ermakov won his first set, 6-3, and looked to be cruising toward a win. With Ermakov up 3-2 in the second set—and with a chance to take a dominating 4-2 lead—his opponent, Flavio Mollinedo, adjusted his play, hitting Ermakov’s shots with less pace.

The change turned the match in Mollinedo’s favor, as he won the second set, 6-4, and clinched the overall match with a 6-3 victory in the third.

“Sasha’s match was the downpayment that we make on the Ivy League season,” Fish said. “It was just that first nervous match when you get back—Sasha did everything he could to win, and he’s going to do so differently in the next situation [because of the experience].”

Fresno State set up a 3-2 lead by winning three straight singles matches at the first, second, and fourth singles positions.

At No. 1, sophomore Chris Clayton played well, taking his match to 1-1 in the third set before losing a few points to drop a break. From there on, he could not reel in his opponent, losing the final set, 6-2.

At No. 2, junior Dan Nguyen lost, 6-4, 6-4, to an opponent who, according to Fish, “was swinging from his heels, and everything was going in.”

At No. 4, co-captain Scott Denenberg lost, 7-5, 6-1, to one of Fresno State’s trickiest players.

The Crimson’s two victories in singles came on the third and fifth courts.

At No. 3, junior Ashwin Kumar, whose swagger has returned after a difficult early-season slump, overcame some adversity to take the first set in a tiebreak and held his composure in the second set, breaking his opponent at 5-5 and winning 7-5.

“Ashwin was playing beautifully,” Fish said. “He showed really good resilience against a very strong opponent.”

Co-captain Gideon Valkin overwhelmed his opponent, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 5.

Continuing its improvement from the early-season doldrums in pairs play, the revamped Harvard lineup swept the doubles point.

Kumar and Ermakov came back from a break down to win in the tiebreak, 9-8(2), at No. 1.

“They became like rocks,” Fish said.

Valkin and Denenberg continued their strong, energetic play as a reunited pair, winning, 9-7, at No. 2, while junior Dan Nguyen and freshman Michael Hayes won, 8-6, at No. 3.

—Staff writer Jonathan B. Steinman can be reached at steinman@fas.harvard.edu.