Men's Tennis Finds Success in Two Tournaments

The Harvard men’s tennis team continued its fall season this past weekend, competing at the Porsche Napa Valley classic in California and the Farnsworsth Ivy Plus Tournament, hosted by Princeton.

The squad showcased its strength and depth on both coasts this weekend, as its freshmen made a splash and its upperclassmen turned in solid performances.

Over at Princeton, the Crimson faced off against opponents ranging from Ivy League foes Columbia and Yale to out-of-conference opponents such as Michigan and Notre Dame.

While eight Harvard players were in competition at Princeton, four Crimson players were playing on the other side of the country in St. Helena, Calif. at the tournament hosted by Berkeley.

Both tournaments ran from Friday through Sunday and were individual tournaments, rather than team tournaments.  Out in Napa Valley, the tournament was set up with eight flights that all played an initial round robin stage, followed by an elimination shootout. The Ivy Plus Tournament was set up similarly, except that the final rounds were divided into a championship and a consolation bracket with full matches.

On Friday, the team got off to an exceptional start at the Napa Valley Classic.  In fact, the Crimson did not drop a single match, going 6-0 due to strong performances from all team members, including sophomore Sebastian Beltrame, co-captain Denis Nguyen, junior Nicky Hu, and freshman Kenny Tao.

Entering his sophomore season, Beltrame showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with this year. After winning his round robin pool, the sophomore from Windermere, Fla. played in the Solinco Wild Card Shootout, which consisted of a 10-point tiebreak and offered the chance to obtain a wildcard entry to a future U.S. Tennis Association event.

Beltrame needed extra points to rally past Soren Hess-Olesen of the Texas in the semifinals, 13-11, and then rode that momentum to win the tournament, taking down teammate Hu in the final.

“It was a really good weekend,” co-captain Alex Steinroeder said.  “We were trying out some new doubles pairings with upperclassmen with freshmen, and it worked out really well.  All of the freshmen are fitting into the team really well.  Out in Napa, we were playing some top-quality competition and doing exceptionally well.  Seeing Sebastian win the tournament was an incredibly encouraging sign.”

Back in New England, the Crimson posted an equally strong performance.  Two players were able to make it to the finals of their flight, and two more made it all the way to the semifinals.

In the Cordish Draw, freshman Jean Thirouin advanced to the finals before falling 6-4, 6-1, to the Wolverines’ Run Hao Hua.  In the Jadwin Draw, sophomore Andrew Ball lost in the finals in a hard-fought match, 7-6(4), 6-3 to Buffalo’s Pablo Alvarez.   Steinroeder and junior Conor Haughey each fell in the semifinals.

“It’s all developmental at this point,” senior Shaun Chaudhuri said.  “It’s all about getting experience for the upcoming spring season.  Freshmen are getting used to playing on a team and what the dynamics of that look like.  So this weekend was great because we were able to see where our level is at as a team.  Both crews did great.”