Men's Tennis Improves Record Against Drake and BU

The Harvard men’s tennis team entered Sunday trying to avoid falling to .500 for the first time since early 2014. Holding a record of 3-2, it had already dropped games to No. 28 Oklahoma State and No. 32 Tulane. With another tough contest against a ranked opponent looming, this time No. 37 Drake, the Crimson had its work cut out to maintain its winning record.

By the end of the day, however, No. 32 Harvard (5-2) had claimed a victory over not only the Bulldogs (2-3), but also crosstown rivals Boston University (1-2).

The triumph over Drake in the morning featured a Crimson comeback and was won in a tense three-set affair, as Harvard squeaked by, 4-3.The afternoon game against the Terriers, on the other hand, was much more straightforward.The Crimson dominated from start to finish to earn the 7-0 win.

Harvard 7, BU 0

After sending out most of his more experienced players against the Bulldogs, Crimson coach Dave Fish ’72 called on his fresher, lesser-used underclassmen to face the Terriers.

These underclassmen responded impressively, dropping only one set across both singles and doubles. In the process, three freshmen earned their first official wins in dual-match play.

“The younger guys have been working just as hard as the regulars in practice,” Fish said. “It was good to see that work pay off today.”

Harvard set the tone right away against the Terriers by sweeping doubles. The pairing of junior Brian Yeung and freshman Andy Zhou, which is ranked No. 39 nationally in the ITA polls, delivered at the No. 1 spot with a 6-3 win over BU juniors Jake De Vries and Jay Leelavanich.

Christopher Morrow and Michael Peters, seeing the first dual-match action of their careers as doubles partners, powered to a 6-1 win to definitively take the doubles point for the Crimson.

In singles, Zhou battled BU senior William Kwok to a close, 7-6, 6-4 win. Fellow freshmen Morrow and Sam Beren also secured points for Harvard in straight sets. Morrow defeated Terriers junior Mario Sandoval, 6-4, 6-1, while Beren overcame BU freshman Jeff Chan, 6-3, 6-4.

For Morrow and Beren, the results were their first singles wins as college athletes.

“We were all in the same boat heading into the day, so it was good to get our first wins together,” Beren said. “Everyone was super supportive and it helped us stay loose and focused.”

Crimson sophomores Grant Solomon, Jean Thirouin, and Xavier Gonzalez all earned victories as well to cap off the dominant team performance.

Harvard 4, Drake 3

With the score knotted at 3-3, this matchup between two ITA Top-40 squads came down to a third set between Crimson junior Brian Yeung and Bulldogs freshman Vinny Gillespie.

Yeung, after losing the first set, 1-6, had pulled back to win the second set, 6-1. Riding his momentum, Yeung raced out to another commanding lead in the third set, and, up 5-1, needed just one more game to claim victory.

However, Gillespie held serve to pull to 5-2, broke Yeung to reach 5-3, and held serve again, pushing the set to 5-4. The next game reached a deuce point, but serving for the win, Yeung finally broke through.

“He [Yueng] did a great job of staying with his game,” Beren said. “He had a tough loss in a similar situation on Friday, so it was good to see him stay aggressive and not let nerves get to him this time.”

With the 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 result, Harvard defeated Drake in the overall proceedings, 4-3.

The match did not start quite as well as it finished for the Crimson, which quickly fell in a 0-2 hole after dropping the doubles point and seeing Bulldogs freshman Ben Clark beat Zhou, 6-3, 6-2.

On the back of strong play in the No. 1 and 2 spots by captain Nicky Hu and junior Sebastian Beltrame, Harvard fought back to tie the match. Kelvin Lam also earned a crucial victory before Yeung secured the clinching point for the Crimson.

“Our team believes in the saying that ‘successes are usually failures halfway through,’” Fish said. “I’m proud of how the team didn’t give up today and we pulled it out.”

—Staff writer George Hu can be reached at yianshenhu@college.harvard.edu