M Tennis Sweeps At New Home

New home, same old home winning streak.

Yesterday afternoon Harvard officially dedicated the Robert M. Beren Tennis Center, the new 18-court outdoor tennis facility, in a fit of pomp and circumstance. The Harvard men's tennis team thrived on the atmosphere, defeating Penn 6-1 to continue its 39-match home winning streak. The last time the Crimson (12-10, 3-1 Ivy) lost a regular season home match was in April of 1990.

Since then the program has undergone a number of location changes. Harvard used to play its matches at the old Beren center. It then moved to the cavernous Palmer-Dixon courts before moving to the Murr Center, where it has played all its home matches this season. But now Harvard has a world-class tennis center that will serve the teams, students and staff for many decades to come.

The dedication ceremony took place on center court a few minutes before the start of the match. There were remarks from Director of Athletics William J. Cleary '56, Harvard Coach David R. Fish '72 and the benefactor himself, Robert M. Beren '47. An honor guard and the Harvard band brightened what was otherwise a cloudy, dark day.

"A year ago, there was ten feet of dirt here," said Cleary, referring to the relatively quick construction process. "This is our answer to the Big Dig."

As Harvard took the court, Beren reflected on the successful project.

"It was what we dreamed of," Beren said. "In 1996, I pledged a minimum of 3 million dollars. Well, it's cost a lot more money than that."

The money went to, among other things, seats for 500 spectators, wind screens, a two-story clubhouse and two lawns.

Harvard's win over Penn (11-9, 3-2) was not the first men's match at Beren, however; on Friday the Crimson narrowly defeated an excellent Princeton (12-6, 3-1) squad 4-3.

Harvard 6, Penn 1

The two teams started with the doubles matches shortly after the ceremony. At No. 1, co-captain John Doran, paired with sophomore Cillie Swart, easily defeated the Penn pair of Frantisek Stejskal and Ryan Harwood, 8-4. Minutes later, Harvard freshman Dave Lingman and his partner, co-captain Joe Green, finished off Brian Barki and Joey Zupan, 8-4, in the No. 2 doubles. Even though the Crimson had already clinched the doubles point, the No. 3 team of sophomores William Lee and Dalibor Snyder hung tough, staving off six match points before losing 9-8.

While Penn was hardly a throwaway, Harvard had an easier time than on Friday's match against Princeton. Except for Doran, who lost to Stejskal 6-4, 6-1, the Crimson swept the singles matches. Lingman beat Barki, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 2 and Swart defeated Robert Pringle at the No. 6 slot, 6-4, 6-2. Green won at No. 3, 6-2, 7-5 over Harwood.

Rain halted play briefly while both teams tried to go inside and finish the match at the Murr Center. However, the lights were not working, and the rain stopped so the match returned to Beren. At No. 4, junior Anthony Barker overcame a poor first set against Eric Sobotka to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Lee also won closely at No. 5, defeating Zupan 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Harvard 4, Princeton 3

On Friday the Crimson took on the streaking Princeton Tigers. Princeton, ranked No. 74 in the country, was on a six-game winning streak with an undefeated Ivy record before coming to Harvard in the first men's match to be played at Beren.

Lee and Dalibor Snyder, playing together at No. 3 doubles due to an injury to junior Andrew Styperek, started things off right for the Crimson, defeating the Tiger team of Trevor Smith and John Portlock 8-0. At No. 1 doubles, Doran and Swart easily beat the No. 50-ranked doubles team of Ahn Ahn Liu and Scott Borenstein, 8-3, to get Harvard the doubles point.

With that hurdle overcome, Harvard focused its attention on the three singles matches needed to win. Lee, playing at No. 5, was cruising, 6-3, 2-0 when Portlock retired with an injury. At No. 2, Liu, a senior, was able to overcome a tough challenge from Lingman and win 7-6, 6-1 to give Princeton its first point. That win was quickly followed by a victory at No. 3, where Judson Williams narrowly escaped with the second set over Green for a 6-2, 7-5 win.

Princeton took a short lead when Darren Joe defeated Swart, 7-6, 7-5, at No. 6 singles. Harvard tied the match back up when Doran put on a teaching clinic at No. 1, defeating an often-frustrated Kyle Kliegerman 6-2, 6-2. All eyes then turned to the final remaining match at No. 4, where Barker was in a second-set tiebreak against Smith. Barker had won the first set.

After exchanging a few quick points, Barker went up 5-2. Smith retaliated and tied the score at 5 apiece. Barker was able to break Smith's final service point and walk away with a dramatic 6-4, 7-6 (5) win.

Harvard goes to Brown on Friday before returning home to face Yale Saturday.