Harvard Splits Spring Break Matches in California

The Harvard men’s tennis team has an energy issue, and it has nothing to do with global warming. When the team goes into a match fired up, it produces quality wins against high-caliber teams, but when it goes into a match un-energized, it falls to weaker teams. In its four-match spring-break road trip in southern California, on which the No. 47 ranked Crimson (8-5) went 2-2, the team learned that it can control its own fate: the energy issue is only an energy problem when Harvard doesn’t have enough.

“The theme on this trip is that the team with the most energy and hunger wins, no matter what the score, no matter who the opponent,” assistant coach Andrew Rueb ’95 said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re the ones bringing the fire.”

The trip’s high point, a 4-3 comeback win against No. 48 San Diego State on Friday, came three days after its low point, a lackluster 4-3 loss to No. 69 UC Santa Barbara—after the team promised itself that it would not allow uninspired play to cause any losses in the future.

This trip was the Crimson’s last tune-up before opening the Ivy League season next weekend. Success in the Ancient Eight will depend on Harvard’s ability to play with the tenacity it had in its two spring break wins. A strong performance will also require the Crimson to break through its recent struggles winning the doubles point, which it lost in three out of four matches on this trip.

“We still haven’t quite clicked in the doubles, and it shows,” head coach Dave Fish ’72 said.

PEPPERDINE 5, HARVARD 2

Though Pepperdine is not the highest ranked team Harvard has played this year (No. 1 Virginia takes that honor), the Waves’ doubles play was the strongest the Crimson has seen this year, according to Rueb.

“Pepperdine’s the fastest team I’ve ever seen,” junior co-captain Chris Clayton said. “They played their best lineup against us, and all of their wins were earned.”

Though heavily favored to win and playing at home, Pepperdine came out ready to play on the second Saturday of spring break, an attitude that Harvard hopes to copy as it moves into the Ivy League season.

Harvard’s No. 1 doubles duo of senior Ashwin Kumar and junior Sasha Ermakov (which went 3-0 on the road trip) showed why they are All-Americans, beating the 23rd-ranked duo of Omar Altmann and Andre Begemann by a score of 8-5.

The outcome was not as positive for the Crimson’s other two doubles pairs, both of which lost, giving Pepperdine the doubles point.

In singles, the only victories came at No. 4 and 5, from Nguyen and freshman Aba Omodele-Lucien.

HARVARD 4, SAN DIEGO STATE 3

Down 3-1 overall, it looked as though Harvard’s promise to itself that listless play wouldn’t slow it down would go unkept only three days after it had been made. But then, three of its most veteran players—Ermakov, Nguyen, and Clayton, each playing their third set—turned the tide, kept the promise, and carried their team to a 4-3 win against San Diego State in Santa Barbara on Friday.

“UCSB was a slingshot,” Rueb said. “We got fired up. We came after it like UCSB did to us...the guys just would not break.”

Wins by Nguyen and Ermakov tied the score at 3-3, and the match came down to court 1, where Clayton’s seemingly infinite stamina was grinding his opponent down.

“I changed my gamestyle around,” said Clayton, who has been known to be in the middle of his first set while all his teammates are finishing their matches. “I started hitting the ball hard and heavy to his backhand.”

The strategic switch worked wonders, as Clayton ran away with the third set 6-2, clinching the match for the Crimson and a 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 win for himself.

Ermakov won his match (3-6, 7-6, 7-6) at No. 3 by attacking his opponent’s backhand with groundstrokes, forcing feeble returns, and then capitalizing on his opponent’s inability to hit a strong passing shot by crowding the net.

Next, Nguyen broke through in his match at No. 4, winning 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.

“Dan threw everything but the kitchen sink in the marathon third set,” Rueb said. “He was ripping groundstrokes, hitting those deep crosscourt backhands that allowed him to move his opponent around. That got him the match.”

A reconfigured doubles lineup won Harvard’s other point.

SANTA BARBARA 4, HARVARD 3

With Clayton out due to a severe blister on his foot, a modified Harvard lineup could not hold off Santa Barbara on Tuesday, losing 4-3.

“We were back on our heels all match,” Fish said, adding that it seemed for a time that all six singles players would lose their first set.

Playing at the No. 2 position, higher than he usually plays, Ermakov had a chance to deliver the Crimson a victory, up 3-0 in the third set. But when his opponent picked up his game Ermakov blinked, losing 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Harvard’s three wins came from No. 3 Nguyen, No. 5 freshman Will Guzick, and No. 6 freshman Alexei Chijoff-Evans.

HARVARD 6, CAL POLY 1

The Crimson had no trouble taking care of Cal Poly on its home turf on the first Saturday of spring break, winning 6-1. Given that the Mustangs play at the level of a typical Ivy league opponent, the win was positive indicator of how Harvard might deal with upcoming challenges.

The Crimson swept the doubles point and won four of the six singles matches in straight sets. The only loss came at No. 2, where Chris Clayton lost in a super-tiebreaker because the overall match outcome had already been decided.

—Staff writer Jonathan B. Steinman can be reached at steinman@fas.harvard.edu.