Crimson Falls in Midwest Contests

The Crimson men’s tennis team traveled to the mid-west this weekend for a pair of testing match-ups against two top Big Ten teams. On Friday evening, No. 48 Harvard (4-3), traveled to chilly Ann Arbor to take on No. 19 Michigan (6-4), where the Crimson failed to overcome the Wolverines for the fourth consecutive year. The team then drove 200 miles through a snowstorm to play Northwestern (10-1) in Evanston, Illinois, where Harvard could not earn a point against the Wildcats.

“The weekend was really challenging,” Crimson coach Dave Fish said. “It was very humbling for the team.”

NORTHWESTERN 7, HARVARD 0

Harvard entered Sunday’s match at Combe Tennis Center looking to turn the tables on 4-3 defeats against the Wildcats in 2006 and 2007. But the ailing Crimson left disappointed after being shut out 7-0.

“We had almost half the guys sick or injured,” co-captain Chris Clayton said. “We were a beat up team. We didn’t have the guts today.”

Sunday marked the seventh Northwestern shutout of the season. The only victory of the afternoon came from the No. 1 doubles pair of Clayton, ranked No. 53 nationally, and sophomore Alexei Chijoff-Evans, who won 8-3. The team lost the doubles point after neither of the other pairs could knock off the Wildcats. In singles play, Harvard lost in straight sets on all six courts.

“I haven’t seen us lose that many matches in straight sets that quickly in a long time,” Clayton said.

He added that it reminded him of the team’s last 7-0 loss in 2006 at Illinois.

NO. 19 MICHIGAN 5, HARVARD 2

Fortune was not on the Crimson’s side on Friday evening. Harvard had to fight not only a top-20 team in Michigan, but also by injury and sickness. With senior Sasha Ermakov stricken with flu, freshman Alistair Felton suffered a pulled hip muscle halfway through his doubles match, preventing him from competing in singles.

“We used up our luck in winning the ECAC tournament [last weekend],” Fish said.

The Wolverines took the doubles point to start the evening. At No. 1, Clayton and Chijoff-Evans lost to Michigan’s top duo 8-6, before the No. 2 partnership of junior Michael Hayes and Felton squeezed out a win 9-8 (8-6). Despite his pulled muscle, Felton was able to finish his doubles match. Freshman Davis Mangham and sophomore Aba Omodele-Lucien fell 8-3 at No. 3.

In singles, Clayton performed strongly at No. 1 in the second set after dropping the first. Playing for the first time this year, the co-captain maintained focus in the deciding super tiebreak to win 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

“Clayton is coming off walking pneumonia and hasn’t played since November,” Fish said. “His performance was pretty remarkable.”

“My expectations were pretty low coming into the match,” Clayton added. “I didn’t know where my fitness level would be. I came in with the attitude of trying as hard as I could.”

No. 2 Chijoff-Evans faced a similar situation to Clayton’s. Also losing the first set, Chijoff-Evans won the second set and super tiebreak to take the match 5-7, 6-3, 10-6.

The remainder of Harvard’s singles matches did not go quite as well as the top two courts.

At No. 3, Hayes had difficulty keeping up with the Wolverines’ co-captain Peter Aarts, dropping his two sets, 6-1 and 6-2, while No. 4 Mangham lost to his opponent, 7-5 and 6-2. Omodele-Lucien made his first appearance on the No. 5 court due to Felton’s pulled muscle, but lost, 6-4, 6-7 (9), and 10-4.

“[The second set] boosted my confidence for the ten-point [tie]breaker, but I got ahead of myself and was not as focused as I needed to be,” said Omodele-Lucien. “It was a tough match, but you learn from a loss like that because you know what to do next time when you’re in that kind of situation. I’m stronger because of this loss.”

At No. 6, freshman Robertson McAnulty had the opportunity to play in his first dual match of his collegiate career due to Felton’s injury. But the walk-on faded as the match progressed, losing 6-3, 6-0.

“It was a learning experience. I learned what it’s like to play in that atmosphere and [realized] ways that I can improve,” McAnulty said.

The team will have next weekend off before taking on Marquette at the Murr Center on March 8.