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Harvard, Yale Snare Tennis Titles
Monday, April 21, 2008
Courtesy Harvard and Yale Athletics Communications
Both the Harvard men and Yale women hit the road on Sunday and returned to their respective campuses as the 2008 Ivy League Champions.
Harvard blanked Brown, 7-0, in Providence to clinch the school's 27th Ancient Eight title, its first since 2004, and end Brown’s bid for a third straight league championship. Harvard is now 6-0 in the conference and 14-6 overall while Brown absorbs its second league loss of the season.
Yale completed its undefeated Ivy League season and clinched its first outright Ivy League Title since 1981 with a 4-3 victory at Dartmouth. The Bulldogs clinched their first NCAA Tournament berth in program history in dramatic fashion.
With the Bulldogs down 3-2 to the Big Green, it all came down to two freshmen. While freshman Lauren Ritz's match at No. 6 singles was well in hand, freshman Lindsay Clark was battling her opponent in a third set tiebreaker. Just as Ritz evened up the overall match score at 3-3 with a 6-1 6-1 straight set victory, Clark dropped three straight match point opportunities to make it 6-6 in the tiebreaker. But the freshman showed great mental toughness and won the next two points to win her match 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) and clinch a Yale victory.
"I tried to keep as calm and collected as possible," Clark said about the pressure surrounding the final points of her match. "I had to believe in myself. I don't know if I would have been able to do this without my teammates. It was all mental in the third set."
Clark's mental toughness in the closing points of the match was representative of the team's mental toughness throughout the season, a point that Coach Danielle Lund McNamara has stressed all season long.
"We were absolutely the tougher team today," McNamara said. "We just had people step up in certain positions. It was really unbelievable. I'm so proud of this team."
Dartmouth jumped out to an early lead over the Bulldogs by taking the doubles point after winning two of the three doubles matches. At No. 1 doubles, junior Janet Kim and sophomore Jessica Rhee dropped a 9-7 decision to Megan Zebroski and Molly Scott. Senior Lindsey Dashiell and freshman Stevi Petrelli lost 8-5 to opponents Maggie Suydam and Georgiana Smyser at the No. 3 doubles position. Ritz and Clark were responsible for the Bulldogs lone doubles victory, a 9-8 (3) win at No. 2 doubles.
Yale responded with straight set victories at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Kim defeated opponent Scott 6-1, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. At No. 2 singles, sophomore Rhee pulled out a 7-6, 7-5 win over Zebroski.
The Bulldogs dropped straight set matches at both No. 4 and No. 5 singles, though. Sophomore Sarah Lederhandler fell to Jesse Adler at No. 4 singles 6-3, 7-5. At No. 5 singles, Petrelli lost to Georgiana Smyser 7-6, 6-3.
Then with the Bulldogs trailing 3-2, the whole season came down to those two matches. After dropping the first set 6-1, Clark rebounded and forced the pivotal third set with a 6-4 second set win. While Ritz easily cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory, Clark battled opponent Mary Winingham in a back and forth third set until it all came down to the tiebreaker.
In Providence, Harvard's doubles lineup which had powered the Crimson through the beginning of the Ivy League schedule did not disappoint on Sunday, claiming two matches and the opening team point. No. 37 Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov sealed their 11th straight win in the top doubles spot, downing Saurabh Kohli and Basu Ratnam, 8-4. The No. 3 team of Dan Nguyen and Aba Omodele-Lucien came through for Harvard with an 8-5 win after the second team of Michael Hayes and Alexei Chijoff-Evans fell, 8-5, at second doubles.
No tiebreakers or third sets were necessary in singles play as Harvard dominated the Bears from top to bottom. Chijoff-Evans recorded the most lopsided win of the day, downing Sam Garland, 6-0, 6-1, at fifth singles. No. 105 Chris Clayton and Omodele-Lucien each gave up only four games in their entire matches, the junior winning, 6-3, 6-1, in the No. 2 spot and the freshman taking a 6-1, 6-3 final at sixth singles.
Kumar made short work of Kohli in the top singles position, turning in a 6-2, 6-4 win while Ermakov collected a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 4. Though Nguyen relinquished the greatest number of games in singles play, he still walked away with a solid 6-3, 6-4 win in the third position.
“It was a flat out great performance from our guys,” said Head coach Dave Fish of the title-clinching win. Assistant coach Andrew Rueb added, “Everybody put in a great effort and played like champions.”
With the league title sealed, the Crimson has one more league match before the NCAA tournament. The team selection show for the tournament will be held on April 28 and first and second round matches will begin May 9-10 or 10-11. Individual player selections will be made on April 30.
Harvard faces off against Dartmouth in its regular season finale Wednesday, April 23 in a 3 p.m. match in Cambridge, Mass.
