M. Tennis Does Battle With Big Boys

In their last warm-up before next week's ECAC Championships, the major event of the fall season, the Harvard men's tennis team showcased all-around depth against premier national competition at the Fluitt Classic in Lexington, Kentucky.

The Crimson faced off against four schools: Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. The latter three finished the 1997-98 season ranked in the nation's top 25.

"This was probably one of the best preparatory tournaments in my four years at Harvard," said Assistant Coach Peter Mandeau. "Going into the weekend, we feel confident that we've gotten top-level exposure. We've never before gotten this much experience for the whole team at a national level."

Sophomore James Blake--ranked fourth in the nation--was playing his first tournament of the year, and led the Crimson with three wins at the No. 1 singles spot. Unranked co-captain Kunj Majmudar knocked off Illinois' 37th-ranked Gavin Sontag.

After sitting out last week's Ball State Invitational to rest up after a busy summer season, Blake showed that he was still in top form, winning three-set matches over Illinois's Cary Franklin and Tennessee's Mark Fitzpatrick and a straight-set contest against Adam Selkirk of Minnesota.

Majmudar outfought Sontag in the No. 2 singles match in three sets. Majmudar split the first two sets 6-3, 0-6, and leading 6-5 in the third set, hit two huge returns to break serve for a 7-5 win.

"I was playing pretty well," Majmudar said. "I started hot, and then he played a really strong second set. I got some lucky returns at 6-5 in the third, and that was the game."

"He's a great player, and that's the reason we came to this tournament: to play against strong national competition. All of us played really well this weekend, and we're looking strong for ECAC's on Friday."

Junior Joe Greene was an unblemished three-for-three over the weekend, winning straight-set matches against Tennessee and Minnesota, and coming back for an incredible three-set victory against Kentucky's Patrik Johansson.

Greene lost the first set 4-6, then won the second 7-5. The third set was back-and-forth, and through 10 games, was deadlocked at five games apiece. Greene broke Johansson's serve in the 11th game, and then held for the 7-5 win in a nearly three-hour match.

Classmate John Doran had a great comeback victory at No. 3 singles against Illinois. He lost the first set 2-6, struggled to take the second 7-5, and then blasted his opponent, Jakub Tepley, 6-1, in the deciding set.

At No. 6 singles, William Lee posted another win for the Crimson against the Illini. Lee, a freshman out of Houston, Texas, won the first collegiate match of his career, 6-4, 6-4, against Royce Ramsey.

The Crimson graduated two important starters--Tom Blake and Phil Tseng--and will need new players like Lee to bolster the team in 1998.

"I think the freshmen really benefited from the tournament experience," Majmudar said. "It was good for Lee to get his first win, and to see what it's like to play against the best college players. We'll need everyone on their game for ECAC's."

In addition to its singles play, the Crimson faced Kentucky in doubles, splitting four matches.

Blake and Majmudar lost a heartbreaking 9-8 (7-2) one-set match to Carlos Drada and Edo Baworno at No. 1, while freshman Cillie Swartz, demonstrating more of the promise that he hinted at last weekend, beat Tomaz Smid and Rovan Stephens 8-5 along with Doran at No. 2.

Co-captain Mike Passarella and sophomore Scott Clark won another thrilling doubles match, 9-7. Passarella tore ligaments in his hand over the summer and saw his first action of the season. He didn't win a singles match, but was still confident about his prospects for next weekend.

"It was difficult for me, playing out-side for the first time," Passarella said. "I played some guys with huge serves, so I just had to hang in there. I didn't have any complaints about my play though."

"We have seen a lot of these guys before, and we know that they're real good. But we got enough matches in, which was the main goal of going down here. The team played hard, right up and down the lineup."

The Crimson will play in the ECAC Championships this Friday through Monday at Princeton. The Crimson is the defending ECAC champion and the number one seed for this year.

"I think we need a little more work on doubles, and we'll be stressing that in practice this week," Mandeau said. "We also need to work on playing to our strengths, and making our opponents play our game. Columbia, Yale and Virginia Tech all look tough, and we'll need to be at our best to win. We won't walk through the tournament like we have in some years."