Harvard Rebounds, Wins Ivy Pair

This weekend, Harvard men’s tennis was done messing around.

After unanticipated losses to Cornell and Columbia last weekend, the Crimson reasserted itself with two consecutive wins.

Harvard (11-10, 2-2 Ivy) won a tight 5-2 match over Princeton (8-11, 4-1) on Friday, gaining momentum for Saturday’s 7-0 pounding of the University of Pennsylvania (11-8, 1-4).

“Coming into this weekend, it was difficult at first since we lost to Columbia and Cornell,” junior Alexei Chijoff-Evans said. “[Wins like these] should be our results against Ivy League teams. I’m most proud of the guys coming back and rebounding so well.”

HARVARD 7, PENN 0

Riding a strong victory from Friday, Harvard crushed the Quakers on Saturday by a score of 7-0. The match was played indoors due to wind.

The opening doubles play proved to be the most contested part of the match. After junior Aba Omodele-Lucien and freshman Christo Schultz teamed up to win the No. 1 match, 8-5, freshmen Will MacNamee and Joshua Tchan fell 8-6 at No. 3.

“[Penn] was better in the doubles than I anticipated,” said head coach Dave Fish ’72. “We were kind of sluggish.”

After a 7-7 tie in the deciding No. 2 match, the Crimson pairing of junior Alistair Felton and freshman Andy Nguyen finally took control, winning 9-7 and securing the first point of the day for Harvard.

Singles was a much easier fight. Chijoff-Evans pulled off a fast victory at No. 1, and Schultz and Felton followed at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, giving the Crimson four points and the win.

“Lex hadn’t played doubles, so he could pour all his energy into the singles,” Fish said. “Christo’s coming on, getting better.”

Chijoff-Evans won 6-2, 6-3, while Schultz posted a 6-3, 6-2 score. Felton dropped the middle set in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

In the three remaining matches, No. 4 Nguyen, No. 3 Omodele-Lucien, and No. 2 Tchan finished up their victories to complete the sweep.

Tchan finished in a super-tiebreaker, 6-1, 4-6, 13-11, as did Omodele Lucien, who won 7-6, 2-6, 10-6. Nguyen came back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The match displayed more lineup shifts, with Tchan playing higher than he has played all this year at No. 2, and Felton as low as he has played all year at No. 6.

“We’ve been turning it over like a Laundromat just so the guys who are playing No. 2 and 3 don’t get their confidence shattered,” Fish explained. “When the confidence is there, you let them go [to the higher positions]. Its just that close [up and down the lineup].”

HARVARD 5, PRINCETON 2

In the first match of the weekend, Harvard outplayed the Tigers for an anything-but-easy 5-2 victory.

“That was one of the closest 5-2 victories you’ll ever see,” Fish said. “The difference between a 5-2 win and a 5-2 loss is just a few points. They were coming on so hard at the end...I don’t think we’ve played a team that has been so intense.”

The Crimson’s ever-strong doubles play resulted in a 1-0 lead to start off, as the Harvard No. 1 team came through with a 9-8 victory and the No. 2 team held off break point after break point for an 8-6 win.

“Getting the doubles point, that dampened [Princeton] a little bit,” Fish said.

Chijoff-Evans rebounded from a 6-0 loss in the first to win the next two sets, 6-4, 6-4. His opponent, Charlie Brosens, made only one unforced error in the first eight games and was up a set and a break when the Crimson junior began coming back.

“I was playing really poorly in the first set and finally got some momentum going,” Chijoff-Evans said. “I carried it into [the match on Saturday].”

No. 4 Nguyen—down a set and two breaks—began a comeback act of his own. As the momentum aggregated for Harvard, the players began to take control.

“The lift effect of having Lex and Andy start to power back was huge,” Fish said. “It was a great display of fortitude by our team. I was very grateful to get out of there with a win.”

Although Nguyen eventually dropped his match, Tchan, Felton, and Schultz, won at the No. 3, 5, and 6 spots, respectively, pushing the Harvard total to five points and giving the Crimson the match.

—Staff writer Charlie Cabot can be reached at ccabot@college.harvard.edu.