Men's Tennis Wins Two of Three at Home

With an ECAC Division I indoor title under its belt following last weekend’s convincing victories over Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth, the Harvard men’s tennis team rode a three match win streak into contests against a trio of nonconference opponents this past weekend.

The Crimson (9-3) opened up weekend play on Saturday with a 5-2 victory over Minnesota (7-3) before falling to No. 23 Vanderbilt (8-2) by a score of 4-3 on Sunday. Harvard closed the weekend playing late into Sunday evening and earned a 6-1 victory over visiting Bryant (0-7).

HARVARD 6, BRYANT 1

Crimson sophomore Brian Yeung battled Bryant’s Matt Kuhar in the final marathon match between the two schools. Yeung completed the comeback, defeating Kuhar, 4-6, 7-6, 1-0. But by then, Harvard had already secured the victory as the squad picked up the doubles point as well as five of the six singles matches to beat Bryant by a final score of 6-1.

“My question today was whether we had anything left,” Harvard coach Dave Fish said. “It’s a long weekend. Brian earned three wins in a big weekend for him. He was consistent in his game and kept a great attitude until the end.”

All other Crimson victories came in straight sets, including two victories from senior Shaun Chaudhuri, who took the first doubles match with fellow senior Denis Nguyen by a score of 6-2. Chaudhuri had no trouble in the second singles match, besting Bryant’s Zachary Morris in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.

Sophomore Andrew Ball, junior Kelvin Lam, and freshman Xavier Gonzalez all also claimed singles victories for the Crimson.

VANDERBILT 4, HARVARD 3

The showdown between Vanderbilt and Harvard rested on the shoulders of sophomore Sebastian Beltrame, as the Crimson was tied with the Commodores at a score of 3-3 as all matches except for the second singles battle had come to an end.

After dropping the first set by a score of 6-4, Beltrame stormed back to take the second set, 7-6. After going down 5-2 early in the third set, Beltrame showed his resilience and brought the score as close as 5-4, but could not complete the comeback as Vanderbilt’s Rhys Johnson claimed the match by score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, and secured the Commodores’ victory over the Crimson by a score of 4-3.

“It was tough,” Beltrame said. “We got a couple huge wins right away…but it was real close, real well-fought out at the end. They’re a great team.”

Freshman Kenny Tao and Yeung kicked off the wins for Harvard, triumphing at fifth and sixth singles, respectively.

Captain Alex Steinroeder dropped his last two sets and the match at fourth singles against Vanderbilt’s Daniel Valent after claiming the first set, 6-3. Nguyen had his hands full against No. 8 ranked Austin Gonzales, who won the first singles match by a score of 7-6, 6-3.

HARVARD 5, MINNESOTA 2

Minnesota, which had lost on Friday to Vanderbilt, was looking to rebound against the Crimson in Cambridge. Harvard proved to be too much for the Gophers, however, as the Crimson topped Minnesota by a final score of 5-2.

“After losing the doubles point our guys came out on fire,” Fish said. “We got a good jump on them, and it was still very close in the end.”

That fire came in the form of junior Nicky Hu and Steinroeder, who both stormed back after dropping their second sets to win their matches. Hu defeated Minnesota senior Jack Hamburg by a score of 6-1, 3-6, 7-6. Steinroeder, who claimed the fourth singles victory for Harvard, clinched the win by a score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

After the second and third doubles pairs dropped their matches despite two match point opportunities, the Crimson responded by claiming five out of six singles matches. At first singles, Nguyen had no trouble upsetting No. 25 Leandro Toledo in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.

Tao and Yeung also won their matches at fifth and sixth singles, respectively.