Men's Tennis Sweeps Opponents in Home Opener

The No. 29 Harvard men’s tennis team opened its 2014-2015 spring season on Saturday with two convincing victories at the Murr Center on Saturday.

The Crimson defeated William & Mary, 5-2, and Marist, 6-1, in what was the team’s first action since the conclusion of the fall season in November. The pair of wins came after the team had only two days of practice since returning from winter break.

“We decided to put the team under pressure right away, and everybody came back really ready from their break,” Harvard coach Dave Fish said. “We were happy with the way most of them came back. I think that having that deadline right away, having to play yesterday, was good for people.”

Senior Denis Nguyen won three matches for the Crimson (2-0 overall, 0-0 Ivy), and the freshman trio of Xavier Gonzalez, Grant Solomon, and Kenny Tao picked up a total of four victories.

“This is one of those really great years where the freshmen have come in and [brought] terrific spirit to the team without a sense of entitlement,” Fish said. “Even though these freshmen are highly competitive for positions, the upperclassmen are handling it really well, which is a mark of a really good team.”

The Tribe (1-2, 0-0 Colonial) and Red Foxes (0-1, 0-0 MAAC) were no match for a Crimson team that had eleven of its players pick up wins on Saturday.

“We have a really deep team,” senior Alex Steinroeder said. “We have 14 guys on the team who are all really good and can play. I think that’s one of our big strengths.”

HARVARD 6, MARIST 1

In its second match of the day, Harvard was able to win five of the six singles matches and all three doubles match to cruise to a victory over Marist. The Crimson’s singles lineup featured four players who did not play singles against William & Mary.

Junior Nicky Hu, freshman Kenny Tao, sophomore Andrew Ball, and senior Shaun Chaudhuri each picked up straight set victories for Harvard from the one-through-four positions. Junior Kelvin Lam lost in a tiebreaker to Marist freshman Timo Tanzer from the fifth position. Gonzalez wrapped up the singles action with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

At first doubles, Nguyen and sophomore Sebastian Beltrame won, 6-2, as did Steinroeder and Solomon from the second doubles spot. Tao and junior Conor Haughey made it a Harvard sweep with a 6-1 victory.

HARVARD, 5, WILLIAM & MARY, 2

Nguyen, the 57th ranked collegiate men’s singles player in the nation, started Saturday off right for the Crimson. Harvard’s No. 1 player made quick work of William & Mary’s Christian Cargill, defeating the freshman, 6-4, 6-2.

Playing from the No. 2 position, Steinroeder fell behind Tribe senior Will Juggins, 5-0, but stormed back to win the set, 7-6, and took the second set, 6-4. Sophomore Brian Yeung was able to get the same result as Nguyen and Steinroeder, winning the first set, 6-4, and the second, 7-6.

Solomon picked up the other Crimson singles victory in the first spring mtach of his career with a 6-4, 7-6 win over fellow first-year Lars de Boer from the No. 5 position. Chaudhuri and Ball both fell in straight sets. Chaudhuri lost to sophomore Damon Niquet from the fourth position, while Ball was defeated by freshman Alec Miller.

Harvard was able to win two of the three doubles matches to pick up the all-important doubles point. The tandem of Nguyen and Yeung, ranked seventh nationally, won, 6-2, in the top doubles match. Beltrame and Hu picked up a 6-4 victory to secure the point for the Crimson. Solomon and Haughey fell to Tribe sophomore Addison Appleby and Niquet, 6-3.

“It ended up being the perfect day of tennis,” Fish said. “Guys got a lot of reps under pressure and had some very close matches. And close matches, when you come out on top, that’s good for confidence.”

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at sgleason@college.harvard.edu.