BRIEF: Men's Tennis Bests Bryant, Falls to St. Johns, Northwestern

This past weekend, the No. 32 Harvard men’s tennis team hosted St. John’s, No.15 Northwestern, and Bryant. After suffering a close loss to St. John’s on Friday, the Crimson fell 7-0 to Northwestern before sweeping Bryant, 7-0, to end the weekend with a win.

HARVARD 7, BRYANT 0

A new lineup against the Bulldogs gave younger Crimson players valuable playing time while also securing a decisive victory for Harvard with wins at every position.

The Crimson secured the doubles point early on with wins from co-captain Conor Haughey and senior Kelvin Lam at second doubles and freshman Christopher Morrow and sophomore Grant Solomon at third doubles.

Solomon, playing first singles, overcame his opponent in a close first set 7-5 before sweeping the second set 6-2. Sophomore Jean Thirouin eked out his Bryant opponent in a tiebreaker in the second set to for a Harvard victory at second singles. Junior Brian Yeung at third singles and Morrow at fourth also took straight-set wins.

After giving up the first set, sophomore Xavier Gonzalez came back to take the next two sets 6-1, 6-2 to win the fifth singles point. To close out the ladder, freshman Michael Peters also fought a hard-won three-set victory, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.

HARVARD 0, NORTHWESTERN 7

Earlier on Sunday, the Crimson struggled to find its footing against No.15 Northwestern. Harvard lost the doubles point with straight victories from its Wildcats opponents at second and third doubles, leaving first doubles unfinished. Co-Captain Nicky Hu and junior Sebastian Beltrame fell 6-3 to Northwestern sophomores Zieba Konrad and Sam Shropshire, while Haughey and Lam fell 6-2.

At first singles, Hu faced off against Konrad, who is currently ranked eighth in the country by the ITA. Unable to best Konrad, Hu fell 6-3, 6-4.

Beltrame suffered a similar 6-3, 6-4 loss at the hands of Shropshire, currently ranked 73rd in the country, at second singles. At third singles, Kenny Tao pushed his match into a tiebreaker in the third set with a second-set comeback, but he could not overcome Northwestern sophomore Strong Kirchheimer. Tao ultimately fell 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, ending his eight-match win-streak at third singles.

After losing a hard tiebreaker in the first set, Lam could not come back for a win at fourth singles. His loss marked the end of an eight-match win-streak at sixth singles. Freshman Andy Zhou also found himself in a close third set after taking the first set, but could not close the victory and fell 4-6, 7-6, 10-2. Rounding out the roster, Thirouin fell 7-5, 6-2 to his Wildcats opponent.

HARVARD 3, ST. JOHN’S 4

On Friday, the Crimson split the singles points with St. John’s, but suffered a defeat at the doubles point early on, which cost Harvard the win.

Despite a tiebreaker at first singles from Zhou and Yeung, the Crimson could not overcome its opponents and lost at all three doubles positions.

A straight-set loss from Yeung at third singles gave St. John’s another point, but Hu earned the first Harvard point of the day at first singles with a win over St. John’s senior Lucas Hejhal. The Crimson gained momentum as Lam recorded his eighth consecutive win at sixth singles with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over his St. John’s opponent and Tao overcame his opponent in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-5.

With Harvard at a 3-2 advantage, it came down to Beltrame at second singles and Zhou at fourth singles. Both Beltrame and Zhou gave up their first sets, and both matches were extremely close in the second set. Beltrame could not close out a tiebreaker and Zhou fell 7-5, however, giving St. John’s two singles points and boosting the Thunderbirds up to 4-3.

Harvard men’s tennis will return to the courts over spring break in La Jolla, CA.

—Staff writer Jamie Chen can be reached at jamie.chen@thecrimson.com.