Men's Tennis Downs Dartmouth to Clinch Outright Ivy Title

After a 4-3 upset loss to Brown on Thursday, the Ivy League title hung in the balance for the No. 21 Harvard men’s tennis team, which needed one win in its final two matches to clinch an outright conference championship. On Saturday, the Crimson (18-5, 6-1 Ivy) rebounded from the defeat in dramatic fashion by taking down Dartmouth, 6-1, to secure its second consecutive Ancient Eight title.

Harvard closed the Ivy season by demolishing the Big Green (9-14, 1-6 Ivy) on its home courts. The Crimson finished the season with a 6-1 conference mark for the second straight year and took its 13th victory in its last 14 matches.

“We’re feeling really great about clinching,” sophomore Alex Steinroeder said. “All of our hard work this year had paid off. It’s great to bounce back after Thursday’s tough loss, and a good way to end the Ivy season.”

The team, according to Steinroeder, feels that the adversity it faced after the disheartening loss to the Bears helped it refocus to take on Dartmouth.

“We did a good job on Friday at practice forgetting about Thursday,” he said. “Our goal was to come right back at them. We can’t necessarily control how we play, but we wanted to have a good attitude, lots of energy, and wanted to come out strong.”

On Saturday, Harvard achieved that last goal, immediately seizing control of the match. The Crimson put on the performance expected of a first-place team facing an opponent sitting in last place.

Harvard lost the doubles point for the first time in 13 matches on Thursday, but regained its strength in doubles on Saturday. All three duos jumped out to early breaks, and the No. 1 team of sophomore Denis Nguyen and junior co-captain Casey MacMaster, who are ranked 71st in the nation, were the first to close it out, 8-4.

Next, the second pair of co-captain Andy Nguyen and freshman Nicky Hu took an 8-4 win to clinch the doubles point, and Steinroeder and freshman Kelvin Lam also won on the third court.

The Crimson, already up 1-0, continued its momentum in singles. Both Steinroeder and sophomore Shaun Chaudhuri, playing at No. 2, opened with breaks. Chaudhuri converted his early advantage into Harvard’s first singles victory, putting the Crimson ahead 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over his former high school teammate, the Big Green’s Chris Kipouras.

Andy Nguyen then took a straight-sets victory to put Harvard up 3-0 and improve his dual play record to 16-3 on the season. With the Crimson one victory away from the Ivy title, Denis Nguyen, playing at No. 1, took his first set, 7-5, and earned a break to go up 5-4 in the second set.

For the second straight year, Nguyen served for the Ancient Eight title and converted to finally secure the title for Harvard. After the match was clinched, Steinroeder and Hu both took their matches at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, respectively, to make the score 6-0. MacMaster, playing on the sixth court, was losing when his match was halted, providing the final score of 6-1.

“The team is just elated,” Harvard coach Dave Fish said. “We came out of the blocks and went after it today. They were the hunters out there today. We’re all really happy and relieved.”

But the team still has more tennis and bigger goals to look forward to. The winner of the Ancient Eight receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins May 10.

Fish said that the loss to Brown has taught the team lessons that will better prepare it for NCAA play.

“Nobody comes through the season perfectly,” Fish said. “Sometimes, teams who go into the NCAA tournament undefeated lose early. They’re under pressure and haven’t experienced losing before. All of these things, good and bad, go into making a great season. You can’t just go jumping from mountaintop to mountaintop and expect to grow.”

The team feels well-prepared for the tournament, and has some specific goals in mind.

“A lot of us are back from last year’s team, and know what it takes,” Steinroeder said. “Last year, we reached the second round. This year, our goal is to get to the Sweet 16. We’re going to have a good few weeks of practice and hopefully a good showing.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Wong can be reached at justinwong@college.harvard.edu.