Men's Tennis Tops Columbia To Open Ivy Season

The Harvard men’s tennis team, winner of nine straight matches, is on a roll, and not even two ranked opponents and conference rivals could stop its momentum this weekend. The Crimson (14-4, 2-0 Ivy) opened up its Ivy League season at home by taking down No. 40 Columbia (11-6, 1-1 Ivy) and No. 48 Cornell (12-6, 1-2 Ivy) on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Harvard, the defending Ivy League champion, is now ranked 18th in the nation. Crimson coach Dave Fish cited improved doubles play as a primary factor behind the winning streak.

“Our doubles have improved, and everyone takes them very seriously,” Fish said. “The players take pride in being well conditioned. Winning the doubles point is key, and we would’ve lost several matches this year if we didn’t win it.”

HARVARD 6, CORNELL 1

On Sunday, the Crimson not only picked up a key Ancient Eight win, but also earned an easy victory over a team that had beaten it earlier this season. Harvard lost to the Big Red, 4-2, at the ECAC Division I Indoor Team Championship in February, but it was a different story on the Crimson’s home courts.

“At the ECAC Championship, we played Cornell at their home court, so we had to work a little harder then,” sophomore Shaun Chaudhuri said. “We also had things we needed to improve on. Since the tournament, we’ve been focusing on the right things, and that showed today.”

There was little suspense in doubles. Harvard’s 65th-ranked doubles team of junior co-captain Casey MacMaster and sophomore Denis Nguyen won, 8-3, at No. 1, and co-captain Andy Nguyen and freshman Nicky Hu won, 8-4, on the second court to give the Crimson the doubles point.

Harvard’s strong play continued in singles. Andy Nguyen, playing at No. 4, won his first set, 6-0, lost the first game of the second, and then reeled off six more games for a 6-0, 6-1 win.

MacMaster also took home a straight-set win, 6-3, 6-3, to put the Crimson up 3-0. Although Hu went down, 6-4, 6-2, Harvard retained a 3-1 advantage.

But Denis Nguyen took a 6-2, 6-2 victory to clinch the win for the Crimson. After the victory was secured, sophomore Alex Steinroeder took a straight-set win, and Chaudhuri won in a third-set tiebreak for the final margin.

HARVARD 4, COLUMBIA 3

On Saturday, Harvard kicked off its league season with a victory. Last season, the Lions were the only Ivy team to beat the Crimson, but Harvard responded and avenged the loss on its home court. Saturday’s victory marked the 65th time in 80 total meetings that the Crimson beat Columbia.

Fish noted that the team was pleased to beat the Lions after the tough loss last year.

“Last year, they played a great match against us and upset us, but today we rebounded,” he said. “Everyone was motivated because of the sting of losing last year, and to win a close match on Saturday was great.”

In doubles, Steinroeder and Lam went down, 8-4, on the third court, but Andy Nguyen and Hu won by the same score at No. 2.

The doubles point would come down to the first court, featuring two nationally-ranked pairs in Columbia’s 36th-ranked Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur and Harvard’s No. 65 MacMaster and Denis Nguyen. MacMaster and Nguyen pulled off an 8-5 upset to give the Crimson the doubles point.

In singles, Denis Nguyen handily defeated the Lions’ No. 52 Winston Lin on the first court, 6-1, 6-3, to put Harvard up 2-0. Columbia bounced back by taking down the freshmen, Hu and Lam, to tie the overall score at 2-2.

Steinroeder captured a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 3, but Chaudhuri lost on the second court. The overall score was knotted at 3-3, and the last match remaining was No. 4 singles. Andy Nguyen lost the first set, but took home the next two for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win to close it out for the Crimson.

Although it is early, the team feels very confident in its ability to have a successful league season.

“We’re very excited, and ready for every team,” Chaudhuri said. “But we’re definitely taking it match-by-match. We have a lot of tough teams left, and Ivy matches always seem to be close.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Wong can be reached at justinwong@college.harvard.edu