No. 20 M. Tennis Finishes Perfect in Ivies

The No. 20 Harvard men’s tennis team capped off a perfect Ivy season yesterday with a 7-0 drubbing of Dartmouth—more memorable than the contest, though, was the fact that it was senior day at the Beren Tennis Center.

Crimson co-captain David Lingman and fellow seniors Mark Riddell, George Turner and Chris Chiou all played their final Ivy matches, and co-captain Cliff Nguyen—who sat out to rest his back for the impending NCAA tournament—cheered from the sidelines as Harvard (17-6, 7-0 Ivy) dismantled the Big Green (7-13, 1-6) despite gusting winds.

“It was tough conditions with the wind,” Turner said with a laugh after his match, “but it’s fitting—the last match that we have to play in the wind—[after] four years of windy Ivy League matches.”

And in those four years, the Crimson had lost a grand total of three spring Ivy dual matches. So it came as no surprise when Harvard clinched the doubles point in an hour’s time and kept on rolling

The doubles competition began when the pair of Chiou and junior Martin Wetzel secured a quick 8-1 win. The duo of Riddell and Lingman followed shortly thereafter, clinching the doubles point with an 8-5 victory.

Freshman Gideon Valkin and sophomore Brandon Chiu completed the sweep with an 8-4 win.

The singles competition started as quickly as the doubles ended, and the Crimson dropped only one first set.

Lingman—who lost just three games on Sunday against Yale and has not lost an Ivy match in the past two seasons—breezed through his Big Green rival with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

And Turner, who is known for stretching his match for all it is worth and is almost always the last off the courts, finished second, a 6-2, 6-3 win in hand.

When asked when he remembered finishing that early, Turner replied, “only when I lose. Bad.

“I’m always out there last. The guys don’t know what to do when they hear me cheering after my matches.”

Harvard now held a 3-0 advantage, and freshman Jack Li sealed the dual match with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory.

Quickly following Li were Chiou—6-2, 7-6 (3)—and Chiu—6-2, 7-6 (8).

The latter fought through a 4-1 disadvantage in the second set tiebreak to pull out the win.

“I just started going after my shots,” Chiu said. “I just wanted to play how I played earlier in the match.”

Wetzel was last off the courts, managing a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory after a frustrating start.

And so, on Wednesday, the Ivy careers of five seniors ended. Five seniors who have contributed to 19 of 34 singles wins this Ivy season, and to nine of 16 doubles wins. And with only the NCAA tournament left to play—the first rounds are set for the weekend of May 15 and might be played at Harvard—their Crimson careers are also winding down.

“Every so often there are landmark classes that have so much to do with where the team goes, and this is one of those classes,” said Harvard coach David Fish ’72. “These guys have stuck together.”

Of the six members of the class of 2004 to join the Harvard men’s tennis team in 2000, only Ryan Browne has left.

“Every one of them has been a contributor,” Fish added. “So it’s sad, because we’re going to miss them totally, but in terms of their contributions to the program, it’s like their places are firmly established [by] what they’ve done.”

Chiu, who has played with and looked up to the seniors for two years now, agreed with Fish.

“They’ve been through a lot,” Chiu said. “Four years, always playing together.

“They’re a really tight bunch. We’re going to miss them once they leave next year.”