No. 41 Harvard Men’s Tennis Beats Brown and No. 37 Yale

If there’s one time in the college tennis season to go on a run, it’s the conference play in April. Following a split weekend against No. 38 Princeton and No. 40 Penn to open up Ivy League competition, the Crimson (13-10, 3-1 Ivy) entered this week with a big question mark over its head. With an away match against a gritty Brown team on Friday and a rivalry standoff between No. 37 Yale two days later, it seemed that this string of matches would make or break Harvard’s season. Thriving under the immense pressure, the team seemingly turned on the burners and got hotter than the Adams House fire. The Crimson went 2-0 on the weekend and gained crucial momentum to carry into the rest of the Ivy League season.

Harvard 4, Brown 0

Following a tough 1-4 loss against Penn just five days prior, Harvardtraveled to Providence, R.I., to start the weekend slate against Brown University (15-12, 0-5 Ivy).

Right away, the Crimson jumped off to a fast start in the doubles round. Harvard, which has had a positive record across all doubles matches played this season, delivered a quick blow to the Bears. The dynamic tandem of freshman Kolos Kincses and junior Rohan Murali, alongside junior James MacDonald and senior Masato Perera, put up strong performances on courts one and three to give the Crimson the doubles point.

Following the early point, Harvard continued to put the pedal to the metal, snatching singles victories in rapid succession before Brown could even respond.

On court three, No. 99 freshman Nathan Blokhin made quick work of senior Noah Hernandez, winning comfortably 6-2, 6-2. Soon afterwards, sophomore Mitchell Lee continued his hot momentum with another straight-sets victory on court six, winning 6-4, 6-4.

With the Crimson having already scored three quick points and at the doorstep of a sweep, the Bears tried to claw back into the match, throwing everything they had on the remaining courts.

On court two, sophomore Benjamin Privara was in a tight three-setter after winning the first set 6-3 and losing the second set 1-6. Senior Mellchior Delloye lost the first set 3-6 before battling into a tiebreaker. And yet, before Brown’s comeback attempt could really get going, the Crimson snuffed out the spark, as No. 52 Murali slammed the door on court one in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

The victory allowed Harvard to sweep the Bears and leave Providence with momentum as it prepared to host its rival, the Yale Bulldogs.

Harvard 6, Yale 1

While the 4-0 sweep against Brown was an encouraging sign, a date with Yale (16-7, 3-2 Ivy) at Cambridge was expected to be far from pretty. Though the Crimson downed the Bulldogs earlier in the season during an ECAC match, Yale is ranked No. 38 in the country and is a very solid team. In front of an electric homestand at the Beren Tennis Center, Harvard was ready to battle it out and send the dogs walking.

Perhaps it was the fuel from a recent string of school losses to Yale — most recently a heartbreaking upset in men’s lacrosse — but the Crimson hit the ground running once again in the doubles round.

Blokhin and Delloye teamed up for the first time on court two. The freshman-senior duo combined for a 6-2 win. Despite freshman Kolos Kincses and Murali getting tripped up on court one, 3-6, Harvard won a big match on court three, with MacDonald and Privara showcasing their dominance this season with a 6-2 finish to clinch the well-deserved doubles point.

With a transition to singles play, fans were hoping to witness the palpable competition between the two teams. The matches did not disappoint, as every singles match pierced the air with a series of energetic moments. The Crimson, unlike certain moments of the season so far, was simply relentless against Yale. Harvard was able to win the first set on every singles court, a foreshadowing sign that the home team wanted this more than its rival from Connecticut.

It was on court three, where the first singles blood was drawn, Blokhin continued to showcase his high level of play with a straight-sets, 6-0, 6-3 win. Soon after, Perera managed to get his senior win against Yale on court five, brushing past Yale’s freshman Ethan Chung in 6-2, 6-0 fashion.

With the Crimson in a commanding 3-0 lead against the Bulldogs, all eyes shifted to the rest of the matches to see who would clinch. In the end, it was the other Harvard senior on the courts, Delloye, who nabbed the win on court four with a tight 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Despite already securing the match, the teams decided to play out the rest. On court six, Lee won a dogfight against junior Dylan Tsoi 7-5, 6-4 in a match that had its fair share of emotion. The Crimson’s only dropped match of the afternoon was on court two, where Privara played an abridged super tiebreaker to decide the match, which he ended up losing 3-10. Murali, who has by now entrenched himself at the top of the ladder, earned a massive win against No. 29 Vignesh Gogineni in a three-set thriller, 6-0, 1-6, 7-5.

At the end of the day, when the dust settled, Harvard delivered not only a home crowd victory but also sent Yale packing its bags in dominant fashion.

The question now is, can the Crimson continue its successful stretch? Back-to-back wins were huge for Harvard’s momentum, but now the team faces its toughest in-league opponents. On April 18, the Crimson will travel to the Big Apple to face off against the two-time NCAA National Champion, No. 5 Michael Zheng and his No. 27 Columbia Lions. Just a day later, Harvard will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to face off against No. 31 Cornell. With two nationally-ranked teams in the Lions and the Big Red, the Crimson is once again at the crossroads. It seems that Harvard has begun to play its best tennis of the season. The upcoming weekend will be the ultimate test of that statement.

— Staff writer Alex S. Kim can be reached at [email protected].