Netmen Cannot Move Mountains, Fall, 6-3

In a controversial and hotly contested match, the Harvard men's tennis team dropped a 6-3 heartbreaker to West Virginia Saturday in front of 50 spectators at Palmer Dixon Courts.

"It was a tough match to lose," Co-Captain Paul Palandjian said. "The guys played great tennis form beginning to end. It could have gone either way."

"It was the climax of our season," Harvard sophomore Robi Soni said. "We let loose all we had, but it wasn't good enough. It makes our chances of making the NCAAs much lower. But we're still looking forward to winning the Ivy title."

In the first singles match, Harvard Co-Captain Arkie Engle dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Joby Foley, to give the Mountaineers (ranked 19th nationally) a lead they would not relinquish.

At number-two sinles, netman Mark Leschley fell to Madhy Nair, 7-5, 7-5. After falling behind, 3-2, in the second set, Leschly rebounded to take a 5-4 advantage. But the sophomore could not hold on, dropping the set and match.

Jon Cardi, the number-three singles player, was able to get Harvard its first win of the day. The freshman sensation lost the first set to Paul Mancini, 6-2, but bounced back to take the second set, 6-2.

After trading game for game, the two players found themselves in a 5-5 tie in the third set. Cardi scored several running forehand winners, and went on to post a 7-5 victory.

Netman Roger Berry used an excellent serve and volley game to win the first set, 6-2, over Brad Kelly. In the second set, Kelly jumped out to a 4-3 lead but Berry quickly rallied to tie the set at 4-4. The sophomore tallied several aces en route to a 6-4 win.

At number-six singles, Soni and Radek Kocek were involved in a dog fight. Each player held his serve until a 3-3 tie in the first set, then Soni broke Kocek's service-game twice and held his own serve to capture a 6-4 triumph.

In the second set, Soni jumped out to a 4-2 lead before Koeck rallied to tie the match at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Soni took a 3-1 lead on several backhand winners, but Kocek closed the deficit to 4-3 on Soni's unforced errors.

At 5-5, Soni recorded a drop volley and baseline winner to take the set and match.

Meanwhile, the number-two doubles match was taking place on court one. The duo of Berry and Cardi dropped a 6-2, 6-3 decison to Kelly and Gary Fry.

West Virginia's win at second doubles tied the match at 3-3.

Ravi Kumar lost a controversial 6-3, 7-5 match to Ray Kurey, who displayed poor sportsmanship by constantly protesting Kumar's calls.

Harvard entered the final two doubles matches knowing it had to sweep both to beat West Virginia.

At number-one doubles, Engle and Leschly had trouble returning their opponents' shots, dropping a 6-1 decision in the first set.

"We were happy with our effort," Soni said. "It took a seasoned team like West Virginia to beat us. Our goal is to win the rest of our matches and let everything else take care of itself."