SEASON RECAP: Foundation in Place For Future Title Run

Though it let the Ivy League crown slip through its fingers this year, the Harvard men’s tennis team proved that it’s a team to be excited about. After strong nonconference play, the Crimson (14-10, 5-2 Ivy) suffered pivotal back-to-back losses in the Ivy League opening weekend, crushing its hopes early on for the conference championship.

“It was that first weekend out that we lost to Columbia and Cornell,” said head coach Dave Fish ’72. “It was the toughest weekend [in terms of difficulty] for any team to play.”

The squad, under the leadership of captain Mike Hayes, did an impressive job of forgetting. Unfazed by its losses, the team went on to defeat every remaining Ivy League foe and finish the season on a winning streak.

“We finished on a very high note.” Fish said. “I’m very encouraged looking at next year.”

Harvard’s starting team was comprised of two juniors, one sophomore, and three freshmen. With no departing senior starters, the squad looks to significantly improve.

“I think we’re going to have a stronger, more experienced team,” freshman Joshua Tchan said. “Our starting six guys are coming back, and we have a strong recruit coming in as well.”

“After [the freshmen] get one season under their belt, they’ll be better,” Fish added. “[This season] showed the coming talent of a very strong freshman class.”

Throughout the season, the young team showed flashes of brilliance. After competing in various tournaments in the fall, the Crimson kicked off the spring with a 1-2 showing in the Harvard Kickoff Tournament. In mid-February, the team headed to the ECAC Championships at Yale, where it came in first place, defeating Brown, Princeton, and Columbia consecutively.

Harvard then returned home to face a series of nonconference opponents, tallying a 4-4 record in that time and traveling to the Blue-Gray Championships over spring break. While it went only 1-2 at the tournament, the team had an impressive 4-0 victory over No. 44 Penn State.

“We just played extremely well at Penn State,” said Fish, who called it the team’s best victory. “Everybody seemed to be playing well that day.”

In Ivy League play, though it suffered back-to-back losses in the opening weekend, the Crimson rebounded with a five-match conference winning streak to tie for second place.

“The guys this year learned a lot,” Tchan said. “We’ll get stronger over the summer, and [next year] looks very promising.”

Harvard’s lineup varied widely this year, shifting as players lost and gained momentum. Though junior Alexei Chijoff-Evans was a fixture at No. 1, the No. 2 through No. 6 spots remained flexible, filled in some order by junior Aba Omodele-Lucien, sophomore Alistair Felton, and freshmen Tchan, Andy Nguyen, and Christo Schultz.

“[The team] came very close to playing near its potential a few times, but with freshmen you tend to have ups and downs,” Fish explained. “We were very pleased with the way everybody in that group progressed.”

Fish also foresees improvement in the upperclassmen.

“I’m looking for [Alexei] to have a bigger year next year,” Fish said. “He’s shown he can compete with just about anyone, and he’s shown he can be a real No. 1 player...I look to see Aba come back and be stronger next year [as well].”

The Crimson was the recipient of three All-Ivy honors. Chijoff-Evans made the All-Ivy First Team for the second year in a row in singles, while in doubles the No. 1 pairing of Schultz and Omodele-Lucien made the first team. The No. 2 pairing, Felton and Nguyen, earned second-team honors.

The team says farewell to Hayes, who captained the team but did not start.

“Mike Hayes was a phenomenal captain,” Tchan said. “He was the guy that, when times started getting rough, we went to for advice, and he did a wonderful job connecting the players with the coaches. We’re definitely going to miss him next year.”

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