Men's Tennis Has Solid Start to Season in Chowder Fest

This weekend, the Beren Tennis Center witnessed 78 matches as the Harvard men’s tennis team took on Illinois, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M in the grueling Chowder Fest tournament. In this intense three-day season opener for the Crimson, the players tackled a high volume of matches, rapidly transitioning from summer training into the competitive season.

Harvard saw ups and downs throughout the weekend. The team struggled initially in doubles but also had some standout individual performances. Senior Brian Yeung led the team and ended the weekend with 7 matches under his belt, nabbing 2-1 in singles and 3-1 in doubles with his partner, sophomore Michael Peters. Sophomore Andy Zhou, who was a consistent force on the team last year, overcame a wrist injury and earned a 2-1 record in singles.

SUNDAY

The Crimson went 4-5 in singles play on Sunday, with Yeung, Zhou, Peters, and freshman Logan Weber taking home victories.

Zhou faced a particularly demanding matchup against Notre Dame junior Drew Dawson. After falling behind 4-1 in the first set, Zhou kept his calm and came back to take the set in a close tiebreaker.

On the brink of a comfortable 5-2 lead in the second set, however, Zhou gave up three consecutive games and found himself down 5-4.

“I got a little cocky for a second,” the California native said. “In that situation it’s easy to get down completely and think about the points that you lost and the chances that you missed, but I kept it together when I needed to and just tried to deal with the situation.”

Zhou managed to recover and again the set went into a tiebreaker. Zhou’s strong mental game gave him enough of an edge to win the tiebreaker and earn a 7-5, 7-5 victory for Harvard.

“You feel very hyperactive and you feel like the situation is spinning out of control, but I managed to play one of my best points to win. It was such a boost of confidence,” Zhou said.

The Crimson earned victories in three of its five doubles matches on Sunday. Yeung and Peters handily defeated the Notre Dame opponents 6-2, and captains Sebastian Beltrame and Jean Thirouin overcame their Texas A&M opponents. While Zhou and Weber fell 6-0, sophomore Samuel Beren and junior Grant Solomon earned a 6-3 win.

Having focused less on doubles in practice, the team’s improvement in doubles was noticeable across the weekend.

“We were a little rusty at first, but we progressed a lot towards the end,” Yeung said. “The other teams definitely practiced more in doubles than we did before this tournament, but I think we did pretty well given how much we’ve done.”

SATURDAY

The Crimson struggled in singles on Saturday, earning only three wins in its 13 matches throughout the day. Zhou and Weber bested their Texas A&M opponents while Beren edged out his Notre Dame opponent in a tight three-set match.

The Saturday matches were a valuable learning opportunity for the new freshmen on the team, as freshmen Galen Lee and Weber both took the courts twice that day.

“The freshmen got a good idea of how college tennis is compared to juniors tennis,” Yeung said. “College tennis is definitely mentally tougher, so they got good experience in.”

Harvard split its doubles matches with a 4-4 record. Yeung and Peters suffered a close 7-5 loss to Notre Dame before coming back to beat their Illinois opponents 6-3. The duo of Beltrame and Thirouin were similarly edged out by their Notre Dame opponents in a close tiebreaker, but came back with a handy 6-2 win against Illinois.

The teams of Beren with Zhou and junior Kenny Tao with Weber earned both earned 6-3 wins against Notre Dame.

FRIDAY

The Crimson began the tournament with a rocky start in doubles, going 1-3. The duo of Yeung and Peters took home the only win for Harvard in a close 7-5 victory over their Illinois opponents.

On the singles side, the Crimson logged 5-5. The matches were closer than the score suggests, with multiple three-set face-offs. Beltrame suffered a close three-set loss while Yeung came back from a loss in his second set to shut out his opponent 6-0 in the third set.

Thirouin struggled to come back after winning the first set and giving up the second set, ultimately losing to his Texas A&M opponent 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Tao came back from a 2-6 loss in the first set to sweep the next two sets and claim a win for Harvard. Lee and Weber both earned victories, while Beren and junior Xavier Gonzalez fell to their Notre Dame opponents.

Despite multiple injured players on the team, the Chowder Fest marked a decent start to Harvard’s fall season.

“It was a good opportunity for the entire team to get used to what it’s like coming back from summer break,” Zhou said. “I feel like up and down the board we played really well. I think that once we have all our guys up and running we’ll be able to do some good damage this year.”

–Staff writer Jamie Chen can be reached at jamiechen@college.harvard.edu.