Lost Ivy Title Doesn't Slow M. Tennis

The Harvard men’s tennis team could not capture the fall ECAC tournament or the Ivy League championship this year. But so what? The Crimson, as deep as the Mariana Trench, earned its highest ranking in four seasons and made its way to the second round of the NCAA tournament even without all the excess jewelry.

What amounts to a three-season sport ended in late May for Harvard, when freshman Jonathan Chu, competing in the first round of the NCAA singles championships at Texas A&M, lost to 11th-seeded Phillip King of Duke, 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-3.

Chu, ranked No. 74 in the nation in individual play, was the only Harvard player to qualify for the year-end tournament. In many ways, his success heralded a new youth movement that should keep the Crimson at the top of the Ivies for years to come.

The freshman started the fall with a big splash, winning his first-ever collegiate tournament—the Harvard Invitational. Chu rose to No. 2 in the singles lineup behind co-captain William Lee, and later in the fall qualified for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national indoors championships.

His pairing with junior Oli Choo also made the Crimson competitive at all positions in dual matches. For the ECAC tournament, hosted by Harvard in October (and the only team competition of the fall), the Crimson faced unusually strong competition.

“All the other Ivies have their bulls-eye on our back,” Harvard Coach David Fish ’72 said at the time.

Unfortunately, the Crimson could not escape its opponents’ marksmanship. Yale unseated Harvard, 4-3, in the semifinals.

After the NCAA-mandated winter “dead period,” Harvard’s young squad regrouped for the dual-match spring season, when things really count.

The team was further given a shot in the arm with the return of David Lingman, who was a member of the team as a freshman two years ago but had taken time off to play as an amateur on the professional circuit. Lingman and Chu quickly formed an indomitable 1-2 combination at the top of the Harvard lineup.

Harvard blew away the competition to open up the spring, going 5-0 early against some top national opposition. The Crimson’s first loss did not come until mid-March, when it suffered a 5-2 defeat at home to Northwestern.

Fish’s squad found itself ranked No. 31 in the country heading into its Spring Break trip, but a pair of losses to Oklahoma State and Fresno State—teams Harvard had defeated earlier in the season—knocked the young team off its high horse.

It then refocused on the upcoming Ivy season, looking for a title that had eluded the Crimson in 2001. Harvard opened up with a pair of road wins at Cornell and Columbia—and a new-look lineup, especially at doubles.

“It’s important for us to try different doubles combinations,” Assistant Coach Peter Mandeau said in April. “By trying different combinations, it gives us more options at the end of the season.”

Indeed, Harvard changed its doubles pairs almost every Ivy match, and it seemed to work.

More importantly, the Crimson’s depth created mismatches galore for its opponents. Lee was playing at No. 5 singles, while sophomores Cliff Nguyen and Mark Riddell filled in at Nos. 3 and 4. The final singles spot was a rotation of sophomore George Turner, Choo and sophomore Chris Chiou—all of whom had played at higher positions earlier in their Crimson careers.

The Crimson beat Penn and Princeton at home, then got its revenge on Yale by defeating the Bulldogs on the Beren Tennis Center courts as well. But Harvard’s chance at the Ivy title slipped away when the Crimson lost to Brown in Providence, R.I.

But its season was far from over. Overall the Crimson was ranked much higher than Brown or any other Northeast team—at No. 33 nationally—and thus got the opportunity to not only qualify for, but also receive a high seed in, the NCAA tournament.

In 2001, Harvard had lost to Notre Dame in the first round of the tournament. But this year Chu, Lingman and company blew through Marist, 4-0, to advance to the second round. But the next day, the team’s season ended against No. 4 Baylor, despite an amazing fight to the finish.

“I think the team performed great once we got used to the level of play we were seeing,” said co-captain Dalibor Snyder after the Baylor loss. “We hadn’t seen players like that in a couple of months. But that’s just the result of playing in a weak Ivy conference.”

Weak or not, the Ivy League was strengthened this season by Harvard’s competitive freshmen and sophomores, and much greater things—including some titles—will be expected in the future.

MEN'S TENNIS

RECORD 15-6 (6-1 Ivy)

COACH David Fish ’72

CAPTAINS Dalibor Snyder, William Lee

HIGHLIGHTS After starting the season 5-0, the Crimson topped Marist in the first round of NCAAs before falling to No. 4 Baylor.Jonathan Chu qualified for the national tourney in singles and in doubles with junior Oliver Choo.