Tennis Goes 1-3 at Blue-Gray Classic

The Harvard men's tennis team ventured into the Deep South for four days of top-ranked competition as it participated in the Blue-Gray Classic held in Montgomery, Ala.

While the relatively young team was involved in some close, intense matches, it only managed to beat Tulsa while falling to UNLV, Alabama and Indiana St.

The Crimson, rated No. 41 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, had a bye in the first round of the 18-team field and faced off against No. 55 UNLV on Thursday. Heavy rains forced the start of the match all the way back to 6:30 p.m.

Harvard started the match poorly, with all but one of the six singles players losing his first set. Sophomore Oli Choo dropped first, losing 6-3, 6-3 to Nemad Zivkovic at No. 2 singles, and freshman George Turner followed suit with a 6-1, 6-4 loss at the hands of Danny Evez at No. 3. Harvard co-captain Anthony Barker made the score a little closer when he won at No. 6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

At that point freshman Ryan Browne, playing in the No. 5 spot, broke serve to win the second set of his match in a tiebreak and force a third. His Running Rebel opponent, Arin Tafazoli, quickly regained form and took the third set 6-3, putting UNLV up 3-1. Similarly, at No.4 singles junior William Lee won a second set tiebreak. Lee, however, had the momentum and defeated Greg Sorkin 6-3 in the final set. At the same time, No. 1 freshman Cliff Nguyen won a thriller, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4), to tie the match at three apiece and force team doubles.

"It was just a dogfight," Turner said. "It was 11:30 at night, it was getting chilly. We expected to win."

The Crimson split the Nos. 1 and 3 doubles pairings, and the match came down to the result of the contest between the Harvard pair of Browne/Mark Riddell and Thomas Schneiter/Evez. While the freshmen fought, the UNLV duo came out on top, 8-5.

On Friday Harvard faced off against No. 20 Alabama in the backdraw. The Crimson never stood a chance and got blown off the court by the Crimson Tide.

The teams faced off in doubles first, and Alabama won at Nos. 1 and 3 to take the doubles point. Choo, Lee and Browne then all lost in straight sets in their singles to give the match to the Crimson Tide, while all other play was suspended in progress.

"They took it to us," Turner said. "We really weren't in it."

Saturday provided the only winning day for Harvard in the entire tournament. Squaring off against No. 33 Tulsa, the Crimson engaged in a five-hour battle to take the match, 4-3.

Lee and Nguyen barely won at No. 2 doubles, 8-6. The duo of Browne and Riddell easily took the No. 3 doubles, 8-1, to give the doubles point to Harvard.

Once again the Crimson lost the first set in all of the singles matches, but this time it overcame that mistake. Lee won a battle at No. 4, defeating Alejandro Tejarina 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Choo and Nguyen, both playing top-ranked opponents, lost their singles to let the Hurricanes back in the match.

With the fate of the match riding on the last three singles, the intensity grew with each game. Riddell beat Micah Zomer, 6-2, 6-4, to give the Crimson a temporary lead, but Tulsa's Sean Monk edged out Barker, 6-4, 7-5 at No. 6.

When Barker lost, Turner was down a break, 5-3, in the final set versus Shri Sudhaker. Having trouble with Sudhaker's powerful serve all day, Turner backed up and gave himself more room to return. It worked.

"I was really energized knowing the match came down to me," Turner said.

He then rolled off four straight games to give him the set, 7-5, and Harvard the match.

Harvard finished off the Blue-Gray Classic against No. 24 Indiana State. With the singles being played first, the Crimson suffered at all the top spots. Choo and Turner lost in straight sets, but Barker once again came up with a good 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 6 over David O'Connell.

The Crimson remained competitive in most of the singles matches, but Nguyen, Lee and Riddell all lost to give the match to the Sycamores, 5-1.

"Indiana State was a more seasoned team at this stage in the season," Harvard coach Dave Fish '72 said. "They executed better than we did and deserved to win today."

With co-captain Mike Rich injured, the heart of the lineup was filled with freshmen and sophomores. In that light, Fish was relatively pleased with the 1-3 record over the weekend.

"Any time you go to the Blue-Gray Classic and come away with a win, it's a successful weekend," Fish said. "The field was deeper here than I've ever seen before."

The Crimson will be back in action over spring break when it travels to California to play Fresno State, Southern Methodist, Idaho and UC-Santa Barbara.