"I said `This gives me a chance to be a hero,' but I was joking, I didn't really think it would happen. It just ended up that way."

So spoke freshman Scott Clark yesterday after his clutch 6-7 (1-6), 6-4, 6-1 come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech senior Mark Tepes at No. 5 singles that clinched a 4-3 victory over the third-seeded Hokies and the Crimson's second straight NCAA Region One tennis championship.

The victory earned the Crimson (21-3) a berth in the 16-team NCAA Championships to be played in Athens, Ga. from May 23-26.

Clark, a native of Auckland, New Zealand, who came off Harvard's well-populated injury list two weekends ago against Army and Cornell, persevered through a tough first set loss to turn things around and extend Harvard's season.

"Somehow he kept coming up with big shots at the right time," said Coach Dave Fish '72. "Tepes kept fighting, but Scott would somehow get one more punch in there."

Clark's heroics ended an up-and-down match that saw Harvard lose the doubles point, storm back in the early singles matches to take a 3-1 lead and then allow the Hokies to tie things up at 3-3. The match was only the second time all season that the Crimson has lost the doubles point and come back to win. PENN STATE  0 HARVARD  4 VIRGINIA TECH  3 HARVARD  4

The day got off to an inauspicious start when Virginia Tech's Lance Mills and Marek Pfeil defeated Clark and junior Elliot Weiss 8-6 at No. 2 doubles to clinch the all-important first point in the match. Harvard also dropped the third doubles match as co-captain Philip Tseng and junior Mike Passarella lost to Tepes and Rahule Basole.

Freshman James Blake and junior Kunj Majmudar earned a hard-fought 8-5 victory over the Marchetti brothers, Aaron and Adam, at first doubles.

Down 1-0, Harvard looked to Blake--at 36-4 its steadiest player this season--at the No. 1 singles spot to turn things around. Blake wasted no time in doing just that.

The freshman--ranked No. 20 in the country heading into the weekend--stomped the higher-ranked Aaron Marchetti (No. 17) 6-0, 6-2 in a battle of prominent Region One brothers. Blake may have been making a statement to Marchetti with this overpowering performance--both will be competing in NCAA singles tournament in Athens from May 27-31.

Following Blake's lead was the Crimson's No. 3 player Majmudar. The junior was also highly impressive in a commanding 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mills.

When Tseng handled Pfeil with relative ease,6-4, 6-2, Harvard looked to be in the driver'sseat with a 3-1 lead. A repeat of the Crimson's6-1 domination of the Hokies in the finals of theECAC Tournament during the fall seemed imminent.

But as soon as Harvard had swung things in itsfavor, Virginia Tech reasserted itself. The Hokiesgot wins at No. 2 and No. 6 singles to even thingsup at 3-3.

Passarella had Harvard's best chance ofwrapping things up at the sixth spot. The juniordropped the first set to Basole 3-6, but regainedmomentum by taking the second set by an identical6-3 score. However, Basole kept the Hokies in thematch with a 6-1 domination in the third set.

The other Marchetti, Adam, was impressive atthe No. 2 spot, defeating Doran 6-3, 6-4.

The two Hokie victories set the stage for theshowdown at No. 5 singles with everything on theline.

"It came down to where we wanted it," saidVirginia Tech Coach Larsen Bowker in a pressrelease. "We had two seniors on the court last,but we couldn't get it done."

The win marked Harvard's 15th straight--datingback to a March 21 loss to Notre Dame--and the endof a six-match winning streak for Virginia Tech.

In winning the region for the third straightyear--the Crimson beat Virginia Tech in the 1997regional finals as well and topped the FloridaGators in 1996--Harvard held serve as the topseed, but it wasn't supposed to be quite thistough. The Crimson was finally getting healthy andhad handled the Hokies easily in the fall.

With the exception of captain Tom Blake, whowas out with a hamstring injury, Harvard was atfull strength, something that hadn't been true forweeks. However, Virginia Tech came to play, asevidenced by their 4-0 upset of second-seededMiami in the semifinals. Including a 4-1 defeat ofPrinceton in the first round, the Hokies had wontheir last six matches by a combined score of 30-2heading into yesterday's contest.

"You certainly know more what to expect at thispoint," Fish said. "At this point you know it'svery tough to get through this regional."

Harvard Declaws Nittany Lions

Things did not look so tough on Saturday asHarvard rolled over fifth-seeded Penn State(11-13) in the semifinals.

The Crimson did not lose a set in the fivematches played--once the doubles point and matchare secured, all matches in progress aresuspended.

The doubles point was clinched at No. 3 in thetightest match of the day. Passarella and Tsenghad to go to the 14th game to fend off DamonAccardi and Jeff Martini 8-6. Blake and Majmudartook No. 1 doubles 8-3. There were, however, sometight moments.

"I told the guys before it started that if theygot down, they were just going to have to keeptheir poise and remember that they played wellthroughout the season and they are going to haveto get the [final] exams out of their system,"Fish said. "There were two critical points at twoand three doubles where we were down breaks atboth places and the guys firmed up and startedbelieving in themselves."

In singles play, Blake started his weekend justas he finished it--dominating. The freshman neededjust over an hour to provide Mike Griesser adouble-bagel at the No. 1 singles spot. All told,Blake lost only two games in singles play and 10total over the weekend.

Blake could not have predicted such anoverpowering performance in his first regionaltournament.

"Anything can happen in regionals, so we didn'twant to leave anything to chance," Blake said. "Iwanted to concentrate on not worrying about theother guys and just worry about me and do the bestI can and get off the court as quickly aspossible. You just have to take care of business."

Clark also had an undefeated weekend insingles. He knocked off Damon Accard at the No. 5spot in a clean 6-2, 6-2 win.

Majmudar took the final bow, as his 6-3, 6-4win at third singles closed the door on PennState.

The Lions had upset Harvard's Ivy League rivaland fourth-seeded Columbia in Friday's play-inround to earn the semi-final berth.

On top of the team's stellar play over theweekend, a plethora of individual awards wereheaped on the Crimson over the weekend.

Of the five major Eastern IntercollegiateTennis Association's individual awards, Harvardaffiliates took home four.

Starting at the top, Fish was honored as theEITA Coach of the Year for the Crimson'sundefeated 9-0 league season. James Blake washonored as EITA Rookie of the Year--he was 7-1 inthe EITA and 34-4 overall when the prize wasawarded.

Majumdar was named the EITA Sportsman of theYear.

Last, but certainly not least, co-captain TomBlake, last year's EITA Player of the year, wasnamed the league's Senior of the Year. The elderBlake, currently ranked 14th in the nation, missedmuch of the season with the hamstring injury thatleft him out of the Regional Tournament. Theinjury kept him out of contention for most of theleague awards.

The only major award that didn't go to aHarvard player was league player of the year, anhonor that went to Columbia sophomore SalilSeshadri.

In addition, the Crimson was well representedon the All-EITA men's tennis team. James Blake wasa unanimous selection for the first team singlesand was also a second-team doubles player. Heearned the second honor along with Doran.

Tseng, Doran and Majmudar were also honored assecond team singles players.

The leadership of Tom Blake is expected to beback, along with the Crimson's best lineup, forthe NCAA Tournament starting on May 23. Thesenior's hamstring has kept him out of Harvard'slast nine matches.

However, the senior will need to bring his "A"game to the table in Athens. Along with the teamtournament, Blake will also be entered in the NCAAsingles and doubles tournaments. The lattertournament will finally reunite the Blakebrothers--the No. 9 team in the nation--for onelast run in the college ranks. Both brothers willtest the professional waters this summer.

With both brothers at full strength, Harvardcould make a run at the other top 15 teams in thenation next weekend.HARVARD 4, PENN STATE 0 at Lenz Tennis Center,Princeton, NJ

Singles

1. J. Blake (Harvard) def. Griesser(Penn State), 6-0, 6-0; 2. Doran (H) vs.Dorfman (PS), suspended; 3. Majmudar (H)def. Meditz (PS), 6-3, 6-4; 4. Tseng (H)vs. Nielsen (PS), suspended; 5. Clark (H)def. Accard (PS), 6-2, 6-2; 6. Passarella(H) vs. McCallister (PS), suspended.

Doubles

1. J. Blake/Majmudar (H) def.Griesser/Meditz (PS), 8-3; 2. Clark/Weiss(H) vs. Dorfman/Nielsen (PS), suspended;Passarella/Tseng (H) def. Accard/Martini (PS),8-6.HARVARD 4, VIRGINIA TECH 3 at Lenz TennisCenter, Princeton, NJ

Singles

1. J. Blake (Harvard) def. Aa. Marchetti(Virginia Tech), 6-0, 6-2; 2. Ad. Marchetti(VT) def. John Doran (H), 6-3, 6-4; 3.Majmudar (H) def. Mills (VT), 6-2, 6-2; 4.Tseng (H) vs. Pfeil (VT), 6-4, 6-2; 5.Clark (H) def. Tepes (VT), 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-1;6. Basole (VT) def. Passarella (H), 6-3,3-6, 6-1.

Doubles

1. J. Blake/Majmudar (H) def. Aa.Marchetti/Ad. Marchetti (VT), 8-5; 2.Mills/Pfeil (VT) def. Clark/Weiss (H), 8-6;3. Basole/Tepes (VT) def. Passarella/Tseng(H), 8-4.Crimson File PhotoHOW SPORTING: Junior KUNJMAJMUDAR--the EITA Sportsman of the Year--wasundefeated in singles this weekend.