"I think our doubles really improved and now we need to turn our focus toward singles," Andrew Styperek said. "We knew that doubles was going to be a factor this fall, and the work that we put in over the past few weeks is starting to pay off."
Against Tulsa on Saturday, the top two doubles teams let the Crimson down with slow starts and even worse finishes. Sean Monk and Shri Sudhakar of the Hurricane defeated the No.1 team of Green and Styperek 8-4, and Steve Timperley paired up with Juan Bertoldi to defeat Lee and Lingman 8-4. The only bright spot was Rich and Barker's come-from-behind victory over the team of Mike Nammar and Micah Zomer 8-5 at No. 3.
The Hurricane also took four of the seven singles matches. Green, switching to No. 1, played aggressively from the baseline and defeated Dane McGregor 7-6, 6-4. Lee, who dropped down to No.2 on Saturday, suffered another tough loss, splitting the first two sets against Sudhakar, but getting blown out in the third 6-1. Styperek and Lingman's matches at Nos. 3 and 4 paralleled each other. Both took the first set, only to drop the next two. Monk defeated Styperek 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Timperley beat Lingman 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. On the plus side, Harvard took the No. 6 and 7 singles, with Rich winning again 6-2, 6-0 against Zomer, and freshman Joel Dechant, playing in his first intercollegiate match, defeated Nammer 6-3, 6-4.
Dechant and his fellow freshman teammates came up big Sunday, when Harvard took on the Texas Christian Horned Frogs. At No. 4 singles, Lingman put on a show. After being down a break in the third set against Sebastian Iannaeillo, Lingman fought back to win the set 7-5 for a final of 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Oli Choo, another freshman, overcame an injury last week in Providence to dispatch Justin Gagnon 6-1, 6-2. Dechant won for the second day in a row, overpowering Michael Leonard 6-4, 6-4.
The Crimson upperclassmen had a much tougher time. Green took an early lead against top player Trace Fielding, but ended up losing 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Lee also lost in three, 3-6, 6-3, 3-2 to Petr Koula. Rounding out the singles, the Horned Frogs' Jimmy Haney defeated Styperek 6-0, 6-4. Green and Styperek lost their doubles, 8-3, to Fielding and Koula, while the team of Rich and Barker, which was promoted to No. 2, also was beaten. The only Harvard doubles victory came from the brand-new combination of Lee and Oli Choo, who disposed of Gagnon and Leonard 8-2.
The team still has a long way to go before matching last year's success. This was the Crimson's first tournament against nationally competitive opponents, and the best it could do was a split. However, Green had a positive take on the weekend's tough matches.
"This weekend was good preparation for the upcoming ECAC's next weekend in Princeton," Green said. "It gave us necessary singles matches, especially for the freshman to get an opportunity to rub shoulders with national level competition."
Once again, co-captain and No. 1 player John Doran did not play. He also sat out last week's tournament in Providence.
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