Men's Tennis Wins Two of Three in Early-Season Road Trip

After its first road trip of the winter season, the Harvard men’s tennis team arrived back in Cambridge with a 2-1 record under its belt.

The Crimson topped Vanderbilt and Butler on the first and last day of its three-day Midwest road trip, respectively, but fell to Indiana on Saturday.

While Harvard squeaked out a win over Vanderbilt, riding a standout, clutch performance from freshman Denis Nguyen to the victory, on Sunday against Butler, in the words of senior Alistair Felton, the Crimson “crushed in emphatic style.”

“I thought it was fun,” Nguyen said. “We had a lot of good matches, faced some competitive teams, and came out largely on top. It was a pretty successful trip.”

The Harvard (5-1) squad was happy with its efforts and reassured of the mentality that got it this far.

“We came in full of confidence from the wins last weekend and full of belief that we could win all the matches even if we weren’t favored,” Felton explained. “We had a really positive attitude, and it definitely paid off.”

HARVARD 7, BUTLER 0

The Crimson rebounded from the previous day’s disappointing efforts on Sunday afternoon, winding up with its most resounding win of the year, defeating Butler (0-6), 7-0 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Harvard last completed a 7-0 sweep came in 2011 against Boston University, almost one year exactly before the Crimson’s matchup with the Bulldogs.

In doubles play, Harvard had no trouble topping its Butler counterparts. Denis Nguyen and doubles partner junior Andy Nguyen took their match, 8-5, while senior Alistair Felton and freshman Alex Steinroeder also won in convincing fashion, 8-3.

Sophomore Christo Schultz and freshman Henry Steer’s match mirrored that of the two Nguyens, as they matched their teammates’ score of 8-5.

Not to be outdone, the Crimson’s singles players also brought out their brooms and finished off the day without any losses.

Pearlman earned his first victory of the triple-header when he topped his Butler opponent, 6-4, 6-3. And from then on, the disparity between the teams only got larger.

In Steer’s matchup, the freshman took charge of the match immediately, winning, 6-1, 6-1. Steer’s double partner, Schultz, continued his teammate’s success, dropping just two games en route to a 6-0, 6-2 win.

Steinroeder didn’t break rank, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Chaudhuri and Andy Nguyen finished off the day, winning 6-2, 6-0, and 6-1, 6-3, respectively.

NO. 27 INDIANA 5, HARVARD 2

Despite gaining momentum against Vanderbilt the previous day, the Crimson struggled against No. 27 Indiana (4-2), and lost overall by a score of 5-2 on Saturday at the Indiana University Indoor Tennis Center in Bloomington, Ind.

Doubles play once again proved to give Harvard many of its troubles, as the Hoosiers swept all three matches. But the Crimson duos stayed close to their Indiana counterparts in each contest, never falling by more than three games. Felton and his partner, sophomore Casey MacMaster, came closest to earning a Harvard victory, though the pair eventually fell in a tiebreaker.

The Crimson scratched first on the scoreboard when it came to singles. Freshman Shaun Chaudhuri won his second singles match in two days, 6-2, 6-3, as did teammate Steinroeder who finished up at 6-3, 6-2. But those points would prove to be the last of the day for Harvard.

“We knew that coming in that Indiana was very good,” Andy Nguyen said. “Things didn’t go our way, but we felt that on a better day we could’ve won it. We learned a lot.”

HARVARD 4, VANDERBILT 3

The Crimson’s weekend road trip began on Friday afternoon, when, led by a strong performance in singles play, the Crimson defeated the Commodores (2-2), 4-3, at Vanderbilt’s Currey Tennis Center in Nashville, Tenn. Prior to the match, Vanderbilt was ranked 32 spots above Harvard, at No. 34 nationally.

The beginning of match play didn’t go the Crimson’s way, as a strong performance by the Commodores’ doubles team put the visitors in a 2-1 hole.

Though the first and the third matches went Vanderbilt’s way, the second match of doubles play went decidedly better for Harvard. The two Nguyens beat their Commodore opponents, 8-6.

On the singles court, it was a different story, as the visiting team soon founds its stroke and was able to rally and earn the victory.

At the start of singles play, Steinroeder handily defeated his opponent, 6-1, 6-4, and Schultz captured a narrower victory, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Senior Jonathan Pullman and Steer each lost their matches.

After Chaudhuri won, 6-1, 6-4, the stage was set for the final match-up: Denis Nguyen versus Austin Gonzales. After losing the first set, 5-7, Nguyen managed to pull out the second, 6-4.

As a result, the match’s outcome hinged on the third and final set. Nguyen was put to the test of match point five times in that round, but the rookie defeated Gonzales, 7-5, and earned Harvard the 4-3 win.

“It was a close match,” Nguyen explained. “I was cramping and I think he was tired as well. It was interesting to see who wanted more, and I guess I came out on top in that.”

—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at jspiesgans@college.harvard.edu.