The doubles point went the Crimson’s way first, as Omodele-Lucien and Schultz teamed up to win the top match, 8-6, and Chijoff-Evans and Tchan united to take the No. 3 match, 8-4. The No. 2 match went to Penn State, 8-5.
Nguyen, who suffered an injury in doubles play, pulled out of the singles matches, leaving Felton to take his spot at No. 3 and the rest of the lineup to advance one place up the ladder.
But Chijoff-Evans and Omodele-Lucien achieved speedy victories at the top of the ladder, and Schultz stepped up to secure the win for Harvard.
At the No. 1 spot, Chijoff-Evans cruised to a 6-0, 6-4 victory, and Omodele-Lucien followed with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph of his own at No. 2. Schultz finished with a 6-0, 7-5 score at the No. 5 spot to end the match.
“The match was a terrific win for us,” Fish said. “Christo Schultz had a terrific day.”
NO. 16 TEXAS TECH 4, HARVARD 0
In its first match of the Classic, Harvard’s chances for the championship were decisively squashed by No. 16 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders, who have lost only once this season and were the eventual tournament champions, did not drop a single match to Harvard.
“They’re a really good team,” Chijoff-Evans said. “All the players are really experienced. They make you play every single point to the full extent.”
To further complicate matters, the Crimson was playing without Schultz at No. 6.
“Christo decides to do a little acrobatic dance [in practice] and falls on his hand,” Fish explained. “We had to reshuffle our lineup.”
Harvard was outmatched from the start, as Texas Tech’s lineup of five Brazilian players and one Ecuadorean tore the Crimson apart. The Red Raiders took all three doubles by a score of 8-3, while in singles, Chijoff-Evans, Omodele-Lucien, and Nguyen lost in the top three spots to give Texas Tech the win.
—Staff writer Charlie Cabot can be reached at ccabot@college.harvard.edu.