Two Tourneys Mark End to Fall for Men's Tennis

The Harvard men’s tennis team concluded its fall season this past weekend, with team members competing at both the ITA National Indoor Championships in New York and the Tribe Invitational, hosted by William & Mary.

While co-captain Denis Nguyen and sophomore Brian Yeung fell short for the Crimson on a national stage at the ITA Championships, the rest of the squad performed well at the Tribe Invitational and captured several All-Tournament awards.

ITA NATIONAL INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

While most of the team traveled to William & Mary, Nguyen—who became Harvard’s first All-American since 2005 with his run to the semifinals of last season’s NCAA singles tournament—and Yeung headed to Flushing Meadows, N.Y. for the ITA National Indoor Championships to compete in doubles.

In addition to Nguyen and Yeung, two doubles pairs from defending Ivy champion Columbia also represented the conference in Flushing Meadows.

Nguyen and Yeung, who started playing together this fall, qualified for the tournament after earning doubles champion honors in the ITA Northeast Regional Championships in October. The duo was one of just 20 doubles pairs competing at the event.

On Thursday, Nguyen and Yeung went up against Alex Lawson and Billy Pecor of Notre Dame, but fell short in a close three-set match, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(3).

Despite the first-round loss, the pair found success in the consolation round, taking down Deni Zmak and Jaime Sanchez from Embry-Riddle, 6-3, 6-4, and followed that up with a 6-3, 3-6, 1-0(7) win over Ian Dempster and Robbie Mudge from NC State.

Nguyen, who partnered for the past three seasons with Casey MacMaster ’14 to form a formidable doubles team that ranked as high as sixth in the nation last year, said that playing with Yeung remains a work in progress.

“The partnership is going great so far,” Nguyen said. “It’s been refreshing to play with a new face and new personality, and getting used to a new person’s name. But we just need a little more match experience together so that I can better understand his tendencies and what he’s like under pressure.”

TRIBE INVITATIONAL

The rest of the Crimson went to William & Mary to compete in the annual fall season-closing Tribe Invitational, and the team turned in a strong performance to wrap up the first segment of its year-long campaign.

The tournament featured players from the Tribe, Penn State, and Old Dominion, and it featured a mock-dual format over two days designed to maximize the number of matches played.

On Friday, Harvard took on the Nittany Lions in both singles and doubles. In singles, the Crimson took six of eight matches, highlighted by sophomore Sebastian Beltrame’s 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 29 Leo Stakhovsky.

Freshmen Grant Solomon and Jean Thirouin also picked up victories; Thirouin’s came in dramatic 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 fashion over Christian Lutschaunig.

In doubles, Harvard won all three matches over Penn State. The top tandem of junior Nicky Hu and Beltrame won, 8-4, co-captain Alex Steinroeder and freshman Kenny Tao followed suit, 8-5, and junior Conor Haughey and Solomon cruised, 8-2.

“Last year when we played Penn State at this same tournament, we lost most matches to them,” Steinroeder said. “So we’re very happy, and it’s good to see such improvement from last year.”

The Crimson also played doubles against the Monarchs, picking up one of three contests. Beltrame and Solomon took their match, but the other two Harvard duos fell short against their Old Dominion counterparts.

On Saturday, Harvard took seven of its eight singles matches against the Monarchs, with the only loss being Beltrame’s defeat at the hands of No. 42 Carlos Lopez Villa. Six of the Crimson’s seven wins came in two sets.

In doubles, Harvard also turned in a strong showing, winning two of three over the Tribe. Hu and Beltrame fell in the top spot, but Steinroeder and Tao, along with Haughey and sophomore Andrew Ball, successfully captured their matches.

On Sunday, the Crimson prevailed in four of six singles matches against William & Mary. Beltrame took first singles, Tao and Ball cruised in two sets, and senior Shaun Chaudhuri came back to win a three-setter over Will Juggins.

Steinroeder also won, 6-4, 6-3, against the Nittany Lions’ Roman Trkulja, and Solomon fell in two sets.

Beltrame and Steinroeder, who went undefeated in singles on the weekend, both earned All-Tournament honors, while the team of Steinroeder and Tao took home All-Tournament doubles accolades.

The weekend presented a solid final opportunity for the Crimson to get quality matches in and solidify potential doubles pairings.

“I think the guys learned a lot this weekend, and we got some good matches in,” Steinroeder said. “We also made good progress in determining doubles pairings. I think four of six spots are set, but third doubles is up in the air.”

Harvard will now break for the winter until Jan. 17. Its spring season will start the same way its fall ended, as the squad’s first match comes against William & Mary.

“I think we progressed well this fall,” Steinroeder said. “Everyone has stayed healthy, and it’s been really good to see the freshmen develop…. If everyone [trains hard] over winter break, then we should be a pretty good team come spring.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Wong can be reached at justin.wong@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter at @justincwong94.