Tennis Notches Two Victories on the Road

After starting its spring season with two losses, the Harvard men’s tennis team (2-2) turned things around, defeating both No. 39 Minnesota (4-4) and No. 34 Tulsa (6-4) on the road.

The No. 25 Crimson showcased its depth and resilience in the two matches, and ultimately won twice by an identical 4-3 score.

The team relied on contributions from every spot in its lineup after losing the doubles point in both contests.

“Everyone did a good job battling this weekend,” junior co-captain Alex Steinroeder said. “After not playing well in doubles, everyone did a good job coming back in singles.”

HARVARD 4, TULSA 3

On Sunday, the Crimson squeaked by the Golden Hurricanes at the Golden Gophers’ Baseline Tennis Center. Harvard, which scrimmaged with Tulsa in September at the Harvard Chowder Fest, has now defeated the Golden Hurricane in four of the five all-time matchups.

For the second straight day, the Crimson adjusted to the unfamiliar position of being behind when singles play started. The team won 19 of its 25 doubles points last year, and consistently captured the doubles point throughout the fall season.

But co-captain Casey MacMaster and junior Denis Nguyen, ranked 17th in the nation among doubles tandems, fell on the first court. Steinroeder and freshman Sebastian Beltrame won to knot up the score, but freshman Brian Yeung and sophomore Nicky Hu fell to give Tulsa the doubles point.

“If you would’ve told me we would lose the doubles point two days in a row and still win [both matches] 4-3, I’d have been quite surprised,” coach Dave Fish said.

In singles, freshman Andrew Ball struck first, evening the match with a 6-3, 6-2 win. Steinroeder followed suit, but Yeung fell to tie the match at 2-2.Beltrame then won in three sets, but junior Shaun Chaudhuri could not hang on, leaving the match up to Nguyen, Harvard’s top singles player.

Nguyen had match point in the second set, but could not convert and eventually lost the set in a tiebreaker, 7-5.  In the final set, he broke his opponent while up 5-3 to take the match and give the Crimson the 4-3 win.

“Denis has done a really great job stepping up at the number one position,” Steinroeder said. “He fought really hard and had a great win today against a good opponent.”

HARVARD 4, MINNESOTA 3

On Saturday, Harvard took down Minnesota by a point, handing the Golden Gophers their second one-point loss of the weekend.

The match started off poorly for the Crimson, with Minnesota’s Jack Hamburg and Mathieu Froment upsetting MacMaster and Nguyen in doubles, 6-4. Sophomores Conor Haughey and Kelvin Lam were the next casualties, falling by the same score and spotting the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead.

“[Hamburg and Froment] just came out really strong in doubles,” Steinroeder said. “We were a little rusty to start off. Overall, it was just an off weekend in doubles.”

The bad start would carry over to singles, where Chaudhuri quickly lost, 6-2, 6-3. But Nguyen began the team’s turnaround with a 6-4, 6-4 win. Next, Yeung and Steinroeder won on the fourth and fifth courts, respectively, to give Harvard a 3-2 advantage.

But Beltrame lost in at the third position, evening the match and leaving it up to Ball at the sixth slot. Although Minnesota’s Jeremy Lynn fought till the end, Ball prevailed in a second-set tiebreaker, 11-9, in a 6-3, 6-5(9) triumph.

Depth was a key theme for Harvard over the weekend. While Saturday’s match came down to Ball in the sixth position, Sunday’s was decided by Nguyen at the top line.

Aided by strong play from its whole lineup and timely contributions from its three freshmen, the squad is poised to make noise as it continues its spring season and pursues its third consecutive Ivy League title.

“After this weekend, we feel confident,” Steinroeder said. “At the same time, there are things we didn’t do well, and we’ll figure out where we need to be. But now we definitely have the confidence that we can be a top team.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Wong can be reached at justin.wong@thecrimson.com