Men's Tennis Advances to Second Round of NCAA Tournament

The weather may have not been in prime form at the NCAA Tournament on Friday, but the Harvard men’s tennis team sure was. Despite the match being moved indoors following a rain delay, the Crimson was not deterred, taking four straight singles matches en route to a 4-0 victory over No. 63 Samford in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament in Starkville, Miss.

With the win, No. 27 Harvard advances to the second round, where it will face the winner of the Mississippi State/Austin Peay match-up.

The Crimson notched its second straight first-round win in the NCAA tournament. Last year, Harvard downed Virginia Tech, 4-2, before falling to Florida in the second round.

The Crimson will hope to improve on last season’s performance when it plays its second round match on Saturday.

On Friday, Harvard cruised past the Bulldogs in the teams’ first head-to-head contest. In the process, the Crimson upped its all-time record in the NCAA Tournament to 15-21.

Because the match was played at Mississippi State’s indoor center, which only has two courts, the match began with singles.

Sophomore Denis Nguyen took the first court and sophomore Shaun Chaudhuri began play on the second. Nguyen defeated Samford’s Zac Dunkle, 6-3, 6-4, to give Harvard the first point of the match. Chaudhuri dropped the first set to Elliot Barnwell, but took control of the next two, 6-2, 6-2, to make the score 2-0.

Senior co-captain Andy Nguyen silenced the Bulldogs’ Fares Kilani, who had gone undefeated in April and was named the Southern Conference player of the month. Nguyen, who went 16-4 in dual play this season, quickly finished him off, 6-1, 6-2.

Sophomore Alex Steinroeder, playing at No. 4, clinched the match for the Crimson with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Samford’s Alex Sajonz, and freshman Nicky Hu’s match on the fifth court was suspended at 2-1.

If Harvard wins on Saturday, it will advance to the Round of 16 at the University of Illinois. The Crimson’s best all-time finish in the NCAA Tournament is its quarterfinal appearance in 1997.

—Check thecrimson.com for updates.