Men's Tennis Captains Look To Return Team to Winning Ways

After falling just one match short of an Ivy League championship in 2010, the Harvard men’s tennis team will look to take the next step forward under the new leadership of rising seniors Aba Omodele-Lucien and Alexei Chijoff-Evans, who will take on the role as the team’s co-captains next season.

With a stronger emphasis on fitness and a renewed focus, the co-captains hope the team will have what it takes to capture the Ancient Eight championship, which has eluded the Crimson since 2008.

“We’re going to do a lot of extra work—just putting in the time and the necessary sacrifices, especially in the fitness aspect,” Omodele-Lucien said. “We’re going to make our team run a lot more.”

Omodele-Lucien and Chijoff-Evans take over for Michael Hayes ’10, who, despite not playing much of a role on the court for the Crimson, captained the team during his senior season.

“Unlike last year, the captains are going to be much more heavily involved because of how much they’ll be playing,” rising sophomore Christo Schultz said. “It’ll be a lot easier to listen to what they say and do what they say. It’ll be a lot easier to relate to them.”

As juniors, Omodele-Lucien and Chijoff-Evans each played crucial roles in helping the Crimson finish tied for second in the Ancient Eight with a 5-2 conference record.

Omodele-Lucien split time between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, closing out the season with back-to-back singles victories and an overall doubles record of 21-10.

“He is one of the hardest workers on the team by a long shot,” said Schultz, who partnered with Omodele-Lucien for most of the season. “He’s extremely passionate about tennis. He’s just passionate about everything he does.”

Chijoff-Evans, who shared team-MVP honors with sophomore Andy Nguyen, played at the No. 1 spot throughout the season, finishing with an overall record of 19-12, earning him a spot on All-Ivy First Team in singles for the second time.

“He’s an unbelievable tennis player—one of the most naturally gifted tennis players I’ve ever seen,” Schultz said.

But despite their individual talents, Chijoff-Evans and Omodele-Lucien will rely heavily on their younger teammates to help the team reach its goals.

Luckily for the co-captains, the rest of the Harvard squad is not too shabby. The team returns its entire starting lineup, including two All-Ivy doubles squads.

“No matter what, I always have faith in our team winning the Ivy League championship,” Omodele-Lucien said. “I think our chances are pretty high.”