Talk about travel delays.

First, the Harvard men's tennis team's Albert Chang and Mike Shyjan's flight to the Volvo/ITCA intercollegiate championships in Austin, Texas was delayed three hours at Boston's Logan Airport because of thick fog.

Then, Shyjan and Chang missed their connection in Houston, and had to take a later flight.

To top it all off, Chang and Shyjan were eliminated in first-round action.

Chang lost a grueling three-set match to Stanford sophomore Mike Flanagan, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, and later joined with Shyjan in a doubles loss to 21st-ranked Dave Blair and Mark Meirstein of Florida, 6-0, 6-2.

Both players claimed to have suffered from the lack of sleep caused by the missed plane connection.

Late Arrival

"We didn't get in [to Austin] until 1 a.m," Chang said. "I had to get up at 6:30 for my game."

Flanagan took early advantage of Chang's tired condition to win the first set by a break, but Chang rebounded strongly to take the second set.

The third set was just too much for the fatigued Chang.

"I was exhausted," he said after the game.

"We teach our players to go three sets," Crimson Assistant Coach Greg Russell said. "But in this case, the fatigue is understandable."

Chang was allowed an hour of rest before taking the court with Shyjan for their doubles match against Blair and Meirstein.

Chang was filling in for Shyjan's normal doubles partner, Harvard Co-Captain Mike Zimmerman.

Zimmerman Hamstrung