Men's Tennis Shakes off Rust at Tourney

Stepping onto the court for the first time this season, the Harvard men’s tennis team took advantage of the weekend to shake the rust off.

The Northeast Invitational, an individual tournament held in Flushing, N.Y., had its ups and downs.

“The team battled hard, but it was apparent that we’re all a little rusty,” captain Aba Omodele-Lucien said. “But these are just building blocks. We’re going to use this as a step to go to the next level.”

Omodele-Lucien led the team with a 4-0 record, winning his flight in singles and partnering up with sophomore Joshua Tchan to reach the final in his doubles flight. Also notable were sophomore Andy Nguyen, who went 2-1 on the day, and junior Mac McAnulty, who reached the semifinals of his singles flight.

On the doubles side, Crimson juniors Davis Mangham and Jonathan Pearlman made the finals of their flight, while junior Alistair Felton and sophomore Andy Nguyen teamed up to reach the semifinals.

“I think it went well for us, although I think everyone came away with a good idea of what they need to work on,” Felton said. Harvard coach Dave Fish ’72 placed Tchan, Pearlman, and sophomore Christo Schultz in the A singles flight, while Nguyen and Felton were in the B flight. Omodele-Lucien was the sole Crimson competitor in C.

Harvard sent two teams to the A flight in doubles, Omodele-Lucien/Tchan and Felton/Nguyen. Mangham/Pearlman played in the B flight.

The invitational kicked off a series of individual tournaments for the tennis team this fall in preparation for Ancient Eight competition in the spring.

“The Ivy season and the spring as a whole are a lot more important than the fall,” Felton said. “We’re trying to set ourselves up for the spring.”

The tournaments have a different feel, though.

“Playing in individual tournaments is much different,” Omodele-Lucien said. “There’s a possibility of playing four matches or more on your own. You’re playing mostly for yourself, while in the dual match, every match counts.”

The invitational also served as the first college tennis match for the freshmen, as well as the first match in a Harvard uniform for junior transfer Jonathan Pearlman, who began his collegiate career at Brown. According to Omodele-Lucien, the team was impressed with the performance of the new players.

“There’s a lot of things to work on, but we have a lot of potential—we can do really well,” the captain said.

The Crimson looks to use matches like these to gain real match experience, as well as expose target areas for improvement.

“You can’t really recreate a match situation in practice,” Felton said. “[I realized] I have to work on the depth of my shots and my tactics a bit more than others. I felt not totally in control of my game, finding my feet again.”

Felton lost his first two matches but rebounded to win the last two. Harvard will take to the courts again next weekend, this time in Allston for The Chowder Fest tournament.

“I felt better each game,” Felton said. “I think we’ll do a lot better [next weekend].”

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