Men's Tennis Tackles the Tribe

This weekend, the Harvard men’s tennis team traveled to Williamsburg, Va., for its final matchup of the fall season. Facing off against six other teams in William & Mary’s Tribe Invitational, the Crimson squad had a strong showing in both singles and doubles.

“Overall William & Mary was our strongest showing of the fall, which is very encouraging for the spring season. It was a lot of fun to travel with the whole team and it was clear how much everyone has improved throughout the fall,” co-captain Jean Thirouin said.

Overall, the team went 15-8 in singles and 5-3 in doubles. Freshmen Robert Wrzesinski and Constantin Zoske, sophomores Galen Lee and Logan Weber, juniors Andrew Ball, Michael Peters, and Andy Zhou, and seniors Grant Solomon and Thirouin competed in this weekend’s matchups. The team faced off against the Tribe, Middle Tennessee State, Penn State, Old Dominion, VCU, and Richmond.

“The team did a great job this weekend—I felt like everyone really locked into their games,” Zhou said. “It’s exciting to see because usually it takes longer for people to find their rhythm in the fall; in the past I’ve felt like even at this stage in the fall people are still trying to find their groove. Good play this weekend translated into quite a few wins across the board, which is great for confidence but also justification for the work we’ve put in this fall.”

Ball and Solomon went undefeated this weekend, 3-0. Ball remains unblemished this season with a 6-0 record. The freshman doubles duo of Wrzesinski and Zoske went unbeaten this weekend as well.

DAY THREE

The Crimson dominated day one and day two of the tournament, entering day three with a 13-3 record in singles and finishing day two undefeated in doubles. On Sunday, the team faced opponents from the Blue Raiders and the Nittany Lions.

“I would say the team’s biggest strength is how connected we are to each other,” Zhou said. “Everyone has really bought into the mantras that we’ve discussed not only with our coaches but also amongst ourselves, and when everyone commits to the same philosophy and team culture it’s a really powerful effect that has tangible impact on all our games. I think that’s translated into a lot of improvement from every standpoint for all our guys.”

On the singles side, Harvard won three of its eight matches, with victories coming from Solomon, Zoske, and Peters. Zoske bested his MTSU opponent in straight sets, while Solomon and Peters both fought it out against Penn State players, coming out on top in two three-set nailbiters.

Zhou and Thirouin fell to their Blue Raiders opponents in straight sets, as did Lee to his Nittany Lion opponent. Wrzesinski had a close contest against a Penn State player: after losing the first set 6-3, the Lithuanian rookie came back in the second set with a 7-5 win, but ended up giving up the third set 6-2. Weber also fell in a three-set matchup, giving up the second two sets after having taken the first set in a tiebreaker.

The Crimson went 2-2 in doubles on Sunday. Wrzesinski and Zoske won their match 6-2, remaining unbeaten this season as doubles partners.

DAY TWO

Harvard swept the singles side, winning six of eight singles matches of the day. Thirouin, Solomon, Wrzesinski, and Lee all claimed straight set victories.

The team has shown great depth this season.

“Our team isn’t big, and if we have one bad egg or one person who doesn’t give it his all every day, it drags everyone else down; I’m definitely very happy that that isn’t the case with the group we have right now,” Zhou said.

The Palo Alto, Calif., native had a tough match against a William & Mary senior Alec Miller. After clinching the first set, Zhou gave up the second frame, but managed to come back in the third, 7-5. Ball also claimed a three-set victory, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Zoske and Peters both fell to the respective Tribe competitors.

On the doubles side, Harvard again claimed victory, with Solomon and Weber edging out their opponents 7-6 in a critical win.

DAY ONE

On Friday, Harvard entered the tournament strong, claiming seven of eight singles matches and three of four doubles matches. Facing off against VCU and Richmond players, Thirouin, Solomon, Ball, Peters, Zoski, Wresinski, and Weber all earned wins for the Crimson, while Zhou fell in a three-set heartbreaker. Three of the wins--Zoske, Wrzesinski, and Weber--came in the form of tough three-set matchups.

On the doubles side, Thirouin and Zhou earned a tiebreaker victory 8-7, while Wrzesinski and Zoske delivered a handy 8-1 victory. Peters and Lee bested their Richmond opponents 8-6, while the only doubles loss of the day came from Weber and Solomon, 8-5.

The team has had a strong fall season, with standout individual performances across the board. Thirouin and Zhou both advanced to the semi-finals of the ITA Regional Championships the previous weekend.

“Obviously I want to see more improvement as we move into the off season before the spring,” Zhou said. “More specifically I think that individually we all have certain technical aspects of our game that could use developing, which is something the coaches have spoken with us about and will definitely be a big priority during these next few weeks before the end of official practices. Keeping up our conditioning will be another challenge that is high up on the list. That’s been a huge help to us so far this season and we definitely need to stay disciplined in that regard.”

The Crimson squad will return to the courts for its regular spring season in January against Southern Methodist University.—Staff writer Jamie Chen can be reached at jamie.chen@thecrimson.com.