Men's Tennis Finishes Fall Season at Bulldog Scramble

The members of the Harvard men’s tennis team will hang up their rackets until January after traveling to the University of Georgia this weekend to compete in the annual Bulldog Scramble.

The three-day event, which closed out the fall 2015 season for the Crimson, featured players from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma, in addition to nine Harvard players.

Junior Sebastian Beltrame, stepping foot onto the court for the first time this fall after recovering from knee issues, posted a 3-1 record in doubles matches with his partner, sophomore Kenny Tao. The lone loss over the three days came to Emil Reinberg and Nick Wood of UGA, 6-3.

“It was fun to be down in Georgia,” Beltrame said. “It was fun to get back into it and into competition again.”

Meanwhile, junior Brian Yeung went undefeated on Saturday, winning two doubles matches and a singles match en route to a 3-0 mark on the day. The Hong Kong native showed grit in the second-set tiebreaker of his straight-set victory over Notre Dame freshman Grayson Broadus, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

Yeung also posted perhaps the most dominant match of the weekend during the Friday singles round, easily handling Reinberg in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. His strong overall weekend showing was tempered slightly by a 7-6 (2), 6-3 straight-set loss to Walker Duncan of the Bulldogs in the final day’s singles round.

The entire Harvard team had a strong showing in doubles play on Saturday, posting a 5-3 record.

“[The team] made some good strides and had a good tournament,” Crimson coach Dave Fish said. “Sometimes you work on things and it doesn’t quite gel yet, but a lot of things gelled for the guys this weekend.”

Freshman Chris Morrow and sophomore Xavier Gonzalez opened up Harvard’s play on Friday with a doubles win over Notre Dame’s Nicolas Montoya and Kenny Sabacinski, 6-4. Beltrame and Tao also defeated Carlos Benito and Andrew Li of Georgia Tech by the same score.

The Crimson suffered its fair share of defeats, however, as the tandem of Yeung and freshman Andy Zhou fell on the first day to Notre Dame’s Eddy Covalschi and Brendon Kempin, 6-3. On Saturday, seniors Conor Haughey and Kelvin Lam were defeated by Notre Dame’s Montoya and Kempin tandem, 6-2, and Morrow and Gonzalez were rocked by another Fighting Irish duo, Grayson Schnurrenberger and Sabacinski, 6-1.

The pair of senior Harvard players bounced back the next day, avenging the younger tandem with a 6-4 victory over Schnurrenberger and Sabacinski.

The back-and-forth results may have been a reflection of the fast-paced, uncompromising nature of the matches, according to Fish.

“You go from offense to defense so quickly, players almost have to make decisions on the reflexive level,” Fish said. “The players have to get set…very much so the way a boxer will know when to take risks, but also knows when to put the risk off and let the other person take the chance. It takes time to develop that capacity—it’s learned behavior.”

A prime reflection of the at times volatile nature of the matches was Tao’s Saturday singles match against Michael Kay of Georgia Tech. The sophomore Crimson swept the first set, 6-0, but dropped the second, 3-6, before taking the match with a 6-2 final set.

The Bulldog Scramble marked the last time Harvard will play in a tournament for another two months, but Fish is certain that the lack of competition won’t prevent the players from being motivated by the results of their work.

“They see that they’re developing their capacity to manage a match better,” Fish said. “It’s not just practice—that has a lack of accountability to it—but really putting themselves on the line to manage the back and forth pressure during a match.”

Match management will be a focus for the team as it prepares for the substantive part of its year: Ivy League play next semester.

“We have an off-period now, and we’re going to do the best we can to prepare for the spring,” Beltrame said.