Tennis Beats Three Ivy Rivals, Takes ECAC Crown

Victory tasted good at the ECAC Championship last year, and this weekend, Harvard men’s tennis was back for seconds. This time, though, the win was served with a hint of upset.

The Crimson, which was seeded No. 1 in the tournament last year, repeated its performance this weekend from the No. 2 spot. The squad strung together commanding victories against Brown in the quarters and Princeton in the semifinal en route to a tough but gratifying victory over No. 1 Columbia.

“Now it puts a target on us for the Ivy season,” Harvard coach Dave Fish ’72 said. “But we’re going to enjoy it today and keep getting better.”

HARVARD 5, COLUMBIA 2

The Crimson (4-2) triumphed over Columbia (4-2) in the closely-contested final match of the ECAC tournament yesterday. Winning by a score of 5-2, Harvard held on to all three doubles matches and then took four of the six singles.

“It was close—up and down,” Fish said. “The lineup could’ve tipped either way at any moment.”

The Lions entered the tournament ranked No. 52 nationally, a significant notch above Harvard at No. 63. But the Crimson players entered the match with focused intensity.

Harvard opened by narrowly winning each of the doubles matches, redeeming its loss of the doubles point to Princeton the day before.

“Going in, we had a fire burning,” said junior No. 1 Alexei Chijoff-Evans. “We really wanted to beat these guys, and it didn’t culminate in nervousness—it culminated in really impressive fight. I’m really pumped about what happened today.”

Chijoff-Evans exemplified that fighting spirit, refusing to admit defeat even when things looked grim. After winning the first set at the No. 1 spot, the junior found himself down 4-1, 4-0 in the second. But something clicked, and he soared back to a 6-4 victory.

“I realized that what I was doing wasn’t working,” Chijoff-Evans said. “I was being less aggressive. I stopped forcing play, I stopped going for winners, I was back on my heels. I decided to go back to what worked. Luckily he made a few mistakes, and I sort of caught fire.”

Chijoff-Evans’ exciting win was key for Harvard, which was mostly outmatched at the top of the ladder.

“That was a big win for us,” Fish explained, “Columbia outmatched us at the two and three positions.”

As predicted, sophomore Alistair Felton lost at the No. 2 spot and junior Aba Omodele-Lucien fell at No. 3, but three freshmen—Joshua Tchan, Christo Schultz, and Andy Nguyen—swept the bottom half of the ladder to secure the win for Harvard.

Tchan’s match was the clincher, ending with a marathon point that looked all but lost for the Crimson. After his opponent’s shot pushed him way out of the court, Tchan returned the ball around the net post to miraculously win the point, as well as the game, set, match, and tournament.

“It’s amazing—[Harvard and Columbia] are two really fine teams teeing off,” Fish said. “We happened to get the edge today.”

HARVARD 6, PRINCETON 1

On Sunday, Harvard cruised past Princeton (1-3) in the semifinal by a score of 6-1. After dropping the doubles point, Harvard rebounded with a sweep of all the singles matches.

Chijoff-Evans won in straight sets at the top of the ladder, as did Felton at No. 2. Omodele-Lucien won a close match at No. 3 and the rookies Tchan, Schultz, and Nguyen closed out the bottom of the ladder in that order.

“It was a really fun match, and a great wake up call for us as to what it would take to win the doubles point [against Columbia],” Fish said.

HARVARD 5, BROWN 2

Harvard beat Brown (5-4) soundly on Saturday to start off the tournament. After sweeping the doubles matches for the first point, the Crimson won four of six singles matches to seal the deal.

“We played very good doubles,” Fish said. “The guys really buckled down for that [match].”

Chijoff-Evans won, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot, and was supported by victories by Felton at No. 3, Nguyen at No. 5, and Hayes at No. 6. Omodele-Lucien fell, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 2 spot, and Tchan lost at No. 4.

—Staff writer Charlie Cabot can be reached at ccabot@college.harvard.edu.