Crimson Tests Depth at Napa Valley Classic

The beautiful skies of St. Helena, Calif. provided the Harvard men’s tennis team with the ambience to challenge tough opponents and see how they could fare in the upcoming season.

The Crimson attended the Land Rover Napa Valley Tennis Classic, a round robin tournament that featured three strong teams from around the nation: UC Berkeley, University of Michigan (No. 33 in the nation last year), and University of Mississippi (No. 4 at the end of last season). These high-ranking opponents gave Harvard the tests needed to diagnose their problems in order to build on last season.

“The tournament bodes well for us this season,” sophomore Mac McAnulty said. “Ole Miss was top-ranking last year and we played well against them. We showed some skills in doubles and a lot of the guys got some good wins in the singles.”

The first day of the tournament turned out favorably for McAnulty and junior Aba Omodele-Lucien, while five other Harvard players lost to their opponents. McAnulty bounced back from losing the first set, 6-4, to overtake Cal sophomore Sky Lovill, 6-2, 7-6(3). Omodele-Lucien established dominance over Mississippi sophomore Chris Thiemann after winning a close set, 7-5, wrapping up the win with a 6-2 set.

Sophomore David Mangham lost an evenly matched contest against UC Berkeley junior Bozhidar Katsarov, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Another close contest of the day was junior Alexei Chijoff-Evans’ match against Ole Miss senior Kalle Norberg, even though the result didn’t go the Crimson’s way. After taking a close first set, Chijoff-Evans dropped the second set, 6-1, and then lost a heartbreaker, 7-5. The close contest showed that the unanimous All-Ivy first-team pick in singles from last season still had some work to do but could keep up with a difficult adversary.

“Top guys played very well and Alexei almost took Norberg from Ole Miss,” said Omodele-Lucien. “So it’s good, especially at the beginning of season, to play tough opponents because people are rusty, and its good to come to the tourney and get hot right away.”

On day two of the round robin, Katsarov once again faced another Harvard player, this time falling to Omodele-Lucien, 6-7 6-3 7-6. Chijoff-Evans also proved victories as he faced the Golden Bears’ Riki McLachlan, defeating him in two sets, 6-2 6-4.

McAnulty wasn’t so lucky in his second match of the tournament, losing to Cal sophomore Tommie Murphy. McAnulty took a tough first set, 5-7, before losing the next two, 6-3, 6-1. Mangham also lost, dropping his second straight game of the Classic, this time to Cal freshman Christoffer Konigsfeldt, 6-3, 6-2.

Sunday proved to be a pivotal day for Crimson players as they faced some experienced competitors. McAnulty beat senior Bijan Hejazi of UC Berkeley, 7-6, 6-3, a player who had won numerous accolades at UC Santa Barbara before transferring in January of this year.

Chijoff-Evans won against Mississippi sophomore Marcel Thiemann in a decisive contest towards the latter two sets, 6-1, 7-6, 10-8. The last set was played as a super tiebreaker due to Ole Miss’ early departure from the tournament. Omodele-Lucien dropped his final game of the tournament against senior Michael Sroczynski of Michigan, 6-4, 6-4.

“Overall, the team played very well this weekend,” said Chijoff-Evans. “We had some really good showing. Mac beat Bijan, who beat our number one three years ago, so it’s a great win. David Mangham played really well but got unlucky against Katsarov. The team looks strong even though the entire team wasn’t here.”

The Harvard men’s tennis team was without two top freshmen due to injury, which let several other players on the roster to take part in the Classic. It allowed the Crimson to assess their depth and figure out which players could play major roles this year.

“It was a beautiful weekend, and the guys got a good chance to cut their teeth against the best teams across the country,” assistant coach Andrew Rueb said. “That kind of competition is invaluable when you get to see what you can work on and figure out what you can do to compete against the best.”

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.