SPORTS BLOG: Extra Strokes

You can’t spell “Harvard” without a “V.”

The Harvard men’s tennis team proved that emphatically this weekend, opening the Ivy League season with two mammoth victories at home over Columbia and Cornell.

The Crimson took an early lead in both matches by capturing the doubles points, but had to weather suspect calls or early deficits in singles play.

Where it may have given in during earlier matches, Harvard held firm, playing to win in spots where it previously would have played not to lose.

“You’re seeing a team that wasn’t sure it had the right to believe itself,” coach Dave Fish ’72 said. “Now the guys know they have the right to believe in themselves.”

With the victories, the Crimson looks to follow in the footsteps of the 2003-04 squad, which went undefeated in league play and made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

The two wins also bring Harvard’s spring record to .500 at 7-7.

HARVARD 5, COLUMBIA 2

In what junior Ashwin Kumar called, “the best team win we’ve had since I’ve been here,” a confident Crimson squad trounced the Lions, going up 5-0 before losing two tight matches in garbage time to post a 5-2 overall win on Saturday.

“All our hard work paid off today,” Kumar said. “We made a huge statement today. I think the other Ivy teams are going to have some fear when they play us.”

Just minutes into singles play, Harvard was already rolling. No. 2 Kumar and No. 1 sophomore Chris Clayton held 4-1 first- set leads while No. 3 Junior Dan Nguyen led, 3-1.

Only minutes later, Kumar’s first set was over, a 6-1 clinic in effortless tennis. Kumar capped the drop shot and service return winner-laden set with two aces in the final three points

“My first set was the best set I’ve played for a long time, everything was just clicking,” Kumar said.

He lost the next set, 6-4, holding serve until his final service game.

“In the third set I tried to get pumped up, put a little more pressure on him,” Kumar said. “I knew it would be a momentum shift.”

And Kumar produced, going up early in the set and holding on despite a questionable call that drew heckles from the crowd.

By the time Kumar prevailed, the momentum was firmly in the hands of the Crimson, after wins at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots.

Co-captain Gideon Valkin won, 7-6, 6-3, at No. 5, turning around an early first-set deficit to take the tiebreaker, 7-5, and then overpowering his opponent in the second set.

At No. 3, Nguyen held on to win, 6-4, 6-3, clinching the match victory for Harvard and making a difficult win seem like just another day at the office.

“My serve is huge, I’m attacking it more,” Nguyen said. “That relates to shorter points, shorter games—it’s excellent.”

With the victory in hand, Clayton finished off his opponent, 6-4, 6-3.

“This guy I played today I’ve lost to twice in a row in these long, drawn out three-set battles,” Clayton said. “Taking care of business in a calm fashion today was a nice reward for all the work the team’s been putting in.”

The Crimson’s two losses came at No. 4 and No. 6.

Co-captain Scott Denenberg lost, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, in a match that he seemed to control early on before a controversial call derailed his momentum. At No. 6, sophomore Sasha Ermakov lost the super tiebreak to fall, 4-6, 7-6, 1-0.

In doubles, the Harvard won in the top two spots and lost at No. 3. Kumar and Ermakov volleyed expertly to win, 8-5, at No. 1, while Valkin and Denenberg relied on the strength of their service and service returns to cruise, 8-4. Nguyen and freshman Michael Hayes lost, 8-7.

HARVARD 7, CORNELL 0

The Crimson pitched its second straight shutout on Friday afternoon, rolling over Cornell, 7-0, despite a shaky start to singles play.

Harvard clinched the overall victory on a 7-5, 6-4 win by Ermakov at No. 6. His win followed a 6-3, 6-3 win for Nguyen and a 7-5, 6-0 win for Kumar, who opened the match with frustrating inconsistency but reversed course with help from the first raucous crowd at the Murr Center this season. Clayton and Valkin also started poorly, dropping the first set, but eventually won in super tiebreaks. And Denenberg picked up a 7-5, 7-5 win at No. 4.

Harvard’s doubles team regained its consistency of yesteryear, winning all three matches.

—Staff writer Jonathan B. Steinman can be reached at steinman@fas.harvard.edu.