Men's Tennis Eliminated in Second Round of NCAAs

The No. 21 Harvard men’s tennis team’s strong season drew to a close on Saturday when it fell, 4-1, to No. 10 Mississippi State in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament.

After a 4-0 trouncing of No. 63 Samford (15-10) in the first round on Friday, the Crimson (19-6) came up short against the Bulldogs (18-9) on Mississippi State’s home courts. This year marks the second straight season that Harvard has advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Last season, the Crimson defeated Virginia Tech before falling to Florida in the second round.

Although Harvard reached the same stage of the tournament as last year, the team feels that it made substantial progress in tournament play this year, according to sophomore Shaun Chaudhuri.

“Obviously, we’re a little disappointed with the final result,” Chaudhuri said. “But last year we were in a similar situation, and Florida really took it to us. This year, we won the doubles point against Mississippi State and really had a chance in singles, and showed some good improvement.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE 4, HARVARD 1

On Saturday, the Crimson showed off its strength in doubles, but had to contend with rain delays and adverse conditions before falling, 4-1.

In doubles, the third team of freshman Kelvin Lam and sophomore Alex Steinroeder broke serve at 5-4 en route to an 8-5 win. Although senior co-captain Andy Nguyen and freshman Nicky Hu faltered on the second court, the No. 1 team of junior co-captain Casey MacMaster and sophomore Denis Nguyen took down the 13th-ranked doubles team in the nation in Mississippi State’s Malte Stropp and Jordan Angus.

The duo’s 8-6 win secured the doubles point for Harvard for the 14th time in 15 matches, but the Crimson could not convert the early 1-0 advantage into a victory after rain delayed the start of singles play.

“Normally, the momentum would be going our way because the home team was rattled,” Harvard coach Dave Fish said. “But then it started to rain, which gave them time to sort themselves out instead of having that emotional gut check. They had time to regroup.”

The match was delayed again after a few games of singles, and the Bulldogs came out firing en route to taking the first set in all six singles matches. But Denis Nguyen, Steinroeder, and Nicky Hu clawed their way back to win the second sets, giving Harvard a shot to win.

But Steinroeder fell to the Bulldogs’ Jordan Angus in the decisive third set, 6-3. Then Chaudhuri went down on the second court, Nicholas Mahlangu lost at No. 6, and Andy Nguyen was defeated on the fourth court, all in straight sets, to give Mississippi State the fourth point and the match.

“They were the better team today,” Chaudhuri said. “There’s a reason they’re ranked 10th in the country, and they showed us today. But we were close, and were the better team in doubles.”

HARVARD 4, SAMFORD 0

On Friday, the weather was not in prime form, but Harvard 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 the Bulldogs from Samford.

Having moved indoors, play was confined to two courts. This change in venue prompted a departure from regular match format and the postponement of doubles play in favor of side-by-side singles play.

Denis Nguyen took the first court, and Chaudhuri began play on the second. Nguyen defeated Samford’s Zac Dunkle 6-3, 6-4, to give the Crimson the first point of the match. Chaudhuri took a three-setter to make the score 2-0.

Andy Nguyen silenced opponent Fares Kilani, who had gone undefeated in April, 6-1, 6-2. Sophomore Alex Steinroeder, playing at No. 4, clinched the match for Harvard with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Samfords Alex Sajonz.

The Crimson finished its second consecutive Ivy title-winning season by upping its all-time NCAA Tournament record to 15-22. It also said goodbye to Andy Nguyen, the team’s lone senior.

“Andy has been such a force for our team, and he had a huge senior year,” Chaudhuri said. “He ends on a high note winning Ivies and making the second round of NCAAs.”

“Everyone on the team should be proud for what has become a really great season,” Chaudhuri added. “We were slightly disappointed on Saturday, but we know that we have the talent to be a top-caliber team and national competitor.”

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