Crimson No Match for Ranked Competition

Southern hospitality is the well-known idea that people in the South should be warm and welcoming to their visitors. No. 1 Virginia and No. 47 Kentucky ignored that notion, however, as the squads handed the No. 51 Harvard men’s tennis team its first losses of the dual-match season over the weekend.

The Wildcats (5-3) squeaked out a 4-3 victory over the Crimson (2-2) on Saturday and the Cavaliers (7-0) overpowered Harvard, 6-1, on Sunday.

Although Virginia’s win was convincing, Kentucky just slipped by the Crimson. The outcome of the Wildcat showdown was determined with two matches left to be finished, but the contest, which finished with two Harvard wins, ended up being a thriller on paper.

“It was probably our best tennis of the year so far,” Crimson coach Dave Fish said. “They barely eked it out—just one tiebreak was the difference.”

A win against either the Wildcats or Virginia would have vaulted Harvard even further up the national rankings, but with the losses, the Crimson’s ranking is likely to hover around 50.

VIRGINIA 6, HARVARD 1

Harvard found out quickly it’s never easy to play the No. 1 team in the nation against a dominant Cavalier team.

“I think we were a little bit on our heels,” Fish said. “They broke us in the doubles right away and we had to play catch-up.”

Senior Ashwin Kumar, who was the only Crimson player to win a singles match, provided the highlights, knocking out Michael Shabaz, 7-5, 6-4 at No. 2. The senior also paired with junior Sasha Ermakov at No. 1 doubles and defeated Houston Barrick and Sanam Singh, 8-5. Coming into the match the doubles team of Kumar and Ermakov ranked 14th in the nation.

In an odd move, Virginia moved its top doubles team to No. 2 and its second-best to No. 1, making for two lopsided matches.

“They annihilated us and Ashwin and Sasha annihilated them,” Fish said. “I didn’t understand it and chose not to question it.”

Kumar’s two wins were the only ones of the day and they maintain the senior’s undefeated record in doubles and singles.

Junior Chris Clayton’s perfect record was also on the line Sunday, but a formidable 12th-ranked Treat Huey stood in the way. Huey handed Clayton his first defeat of the year by a score of 6-3, 7-5.

The bottom of the Harvard lineup couldn’t keep up with the Cavaliers and all five singles losses came in straight sets.

“The singles really told the story,” Fish said. “They jumped out to leads everywhere except for No. 1 and 2. We felt like we were the fox in a fox hunt.”

KENTUCKY 4, HARVARD 3

The first match of the weekend began perfectly. The Crimson won the doubles point by sweeping all three matches for the first time this season and took the lead and the momentum into the singles portion.

At No. 1 doubles, Kumar and Ermakov conquered Bruno Agostinelli and Brad Cox, a pairing ranked 21st in the nation, 9-8, in the most competitive doubles match.

The first four singles matches all ended in Kentucky wins, enough for the overall victory. The Wildcats took the No. 3 and No. 4 singles spots in straight sets and won at No. 6 in three sets.

The most exciting match of the day came at the No. 5 spot between Crimson freshman Aba Omodele-Lucien and Alberto Gonzalez. The two traded sets before the third and most highly-contested set. After fighting off a match point on Omodele-Lucien’s serve, Gonzalez mustered up the energy to win the tiebreak, 7-6 (9-7), giving the Wildcats the necessary fourth point for the overall victory.

“Kentucky is much better than their national ranking,” Fish said. “They lost a couple of close ones early in the year because they didn’t have their lineup set.”

Though the match was over, the top two Crimson players remained focused. Kumar beat Will Ward—who has knocked off four ranked players this season—6-4, 6-7, 6-1 and in the No. 1 spot, Clayton took down a very talented Bruno Agostinelli, ranked 31st in the nation, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

“It was a very strong performance from the upperclassmen,” Fish said.

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.