Zimmerman Tops Shyjan in ECAC's

In the Flight A finals of the Harvard Invitational two weeks ago, Crimson top seed Mike Shyjan topped teammate Mike Zimmerman.

At last weekend's ECAC Championships in Princeton, N.J., Zimmerman got his revenge. Once again, the junior duo met in the tourney finals. This time, the nationally 14th-ranked Zimmerman--who had advanced to the final by ousting Princeton's Greg Hartch by a 6-1, 6-1 margin--easily beat his ninth-ranked teammate by the same score.

"Shyjan didn't get his game going." noted Harvard Coach Dave Fish, who lauded the intensity of both his stars. "Zimmerman proceeded surgically. Since Shyjan didn't come full force from the start, Zimmerman never gave him an opportunity to play his own game."

In the Flight A doubles competition, the sixth-ranked Zimmerman/Shyjan combination was forced to withdraw when Zimmerman injured his wrist.

In Flight B, Harvard third seed Derek Brown reached the semifinals before falling to West Virginia's Ron Mercer.

"Mercer mixed up his game well," Brown said. "He never settled into one pattern to which I could adjust my game. At one moment he was at the baseline, a couple points later he was serving and volleying."

Freshman Ian Williams surprised Fish by reaching the quartervinals, but relinquished a hard-fought three-set match to strong-serving Mark Booras of West Virginia.

Although Harvard's Flight B doubles combination of Albert Chang and John Tolmie was formed because of an injury, they advanced to the semifinals, losing to Princeton in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6. Similarly, the youthful team of Williams and freshman Brent Latanzi was dropped in the semifinals. But only after a strenous battle, in which the Crimson had a crack at taking both the second and third sets on serve.

"The pressure got to us," Williams said.

Fish feels these individual results are irrelevant for his team's future.

"There are three really good teams in the East--West Virginia, Princeton and ourselves," Fish said. "Everyone had a good showing in this invitational--nobody stood apart. The future will be determined by who gets to work right away." ECAC's

Flight A Singles

Mike Shyjan

1st Round

d. Jason Baker (Brown), 6-2, 6-3

2nd Round

d. Glenn Welling (Penn), 6-4, 6-4

Quarterfinal

d. Rick Theobald (Yale), 6-4, 6-3

Semifinal

d. Patric Westoo (West Virginia), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

Final

lost to Mike Zimmerman (HARVARD), 6-1, 6-1

Mike Zimmerman

1st Round

d. Matt Spiegel (George Washington), 6-1, 6-2

2nd Round

d. Roly Lamy (Bloomsburg), 7-5, 6-7, 6-3

Quarterfinal

d. Robert Bernstein (Cornell), 6-4, 6-1

Semifinal

d. Greg Hartch (Princeton), 6-0, 6-2

Final

d. Mike Shyjan (HARVARD), 6-1, 6-1

Flight B Singles

Derek Brown

1st Round

d. Chris Waters (Army), 6-2, 6-1

2nd Round

d. Alex Kaplan (Dartmouth), 6-4, 7-5

Quarterfinal

d. Marc Howard (Yale), 6-1, 6-2

Quarterfinal

lost to Ron Mercer (West Virginia), 6-4, 6-2

Ian Williams

1st Round

d. Max Goldberg (Brown), 6-0, 7-5

2nd Round

d. Bruce Ellis (Dartmouth), 6-3, 6-3

Quarterfinal

lost to Mark Booras (West Virginia), 6-7, 6-4, 6-4

Flight C Singles

Ravi Kumar

1st Round

d. Don Wilson (Columbia), 6-4, 6-0

2nd Round

d. Jay Rossello (Yale), 6-1, 6-1

Quarterfinal

lost to Rondago Gonzalez (West Virginia), 6-3, 6-1

John Tolmie

1st Round

d. Julian Baker (Georgetown), 6-1, 6-2

2nd Round

d. Doug Eden (Penn), 6-3, 7-5

Quarterfinal

lost to Jordan Bergwall (West Virginia), 7-6, 7-6

Flight A Doubles

Shyjan/Zimmerman

1st Round

lost to Gordon/Jang (Navy), walkover

Flight B Doubles

Chang/Tolmie

1st Round

d. Howard/Seppala (Yale), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Quarterfinal

d. Galley/Lowther (Providence), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Semifinal

d. Garcia/Tanner (Penn), 6-3, 6-4

Final

lost to Weiss/Hartch (Princeton), 6-4, 7-6