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Tennis Season Comes To A Close
Monday, May 12, 2008
From Harvard & Yale Athletics CommunicationsThe Harvard men’s tennis team was unable to make it out of the first round of its first NCAA tournament in four years, dropping a 4-2 decision to No. 17 Texas Tech, Saturday at the University of Michigan.
With the loss, Harvard ends its stellar season with a 15-7 overall record, which included a perfect 7-0 mark in Ivy League action. The Crimson advanced to the NCAA tournament by receiving the automatic bid that comes with a league championship. Texas Tech will meet host, No. 16 Michigan Sunday at 2 p.m., marking the second time in as many seasons it has advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Red Raiders took control in the doubles portion of the match, earning wins at the second and third positions. Dan Nguyen and Aba Omodele-Lucien dropped an 8-5 decision to Ilya Babinciuc and Lenoir Ramos at No. 3 and Michael Hayes and Alexei Chijoff-Evans fell, 8-2, in the second doubles spot.
The Crimson quickly found itself in a 2-0 hole as junior Sasha Ermakov lost a 6-2, 6-2 match to Christian Rojmar at fourth singles. Chijoff-Evans answered right back, giving the Crimson it’s first team point with a decisive 6-2, 6-2 win of his own in the fifth spot. The Crimson deficit once again fell to two points as Bojan Szumanski bested Ashwin Kumar, 6-1, 6-4, in the top singles position.
Omodele-Lucien kept the Crimson in contention, wrapping up a second set tiebreaker in his 6-2, 7-6 win at sixth singles. However, the Crimson could not hang on in the remaining singles matches as No. 112 Chris Clayton fell in a tight 7-6, 6-4 match to No. 119 Sinisa Markovic, sealing the 4-2 final.
While Texas Tech advances to the second round of the NCAA team bracket, the Crimson has the national singles and doubles competitions to look forward to. Harvard’s top doubles team of Kumar and Ermakov will represent the Ivy League in the field of 32 doubles teams, and Clayton, the league’s top singles player, will try his hand in the singles bracket. NCAA individual play will begin May 21 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of Tulsa University in Tulsa, Okla.
Meanwhile in Athens, Ga., the Yale women saw their season come to an end with a 4-0 loss to second-seeded Georgia in the first round at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. It was the first NCAA Tournament match in program history.
"I'm very proud of the way we competed," Yale head coach Danielle Lund McNamara said after the match. "We were right in there in several matches and had a chance to win a few."
The day got underway with three doubles matches, where Georgia cruised to easy victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Kelly Hyndman and Yvette Hyndman, the No. 52 doubles team in the nation, defeated Yale's No. 1 Janet Kim and Jessica Rhee 8-2, while Lindsey Dashiell and Stevi Petrelli fell to Monika Dancevic and Adrienne Elsberry 8-3 at No. 3, clinching the doubles point for Georgia.
Naoko Ueshima and Cameron Ellis built a 7-4 lead for Georgia at No. 2 doubles, but Lindsay Clark and Lauren Ritz fought back to make it 7-6. With Georgia serving for the match, Yale fought off two match points before Clark hit back-to-back winners to break serve and tie it at 7-7. Dancevic and Elsberry finished off their victory moments later, so the No. 2 doubles match went unfinished. NCAA Tournament rules dictate that all remaining play be stopped once the result is clinched.
In singles, Kim built a 4-1 lead against No. 39 Yvette Hyndman at No. 1 before Hyndman won four straight games to go in front 5-4. After Kim held serve, she broke for a 6-5 lead, then fought off two break points and won the set with an ace. Rhee won the first set of her match at No. 2 singles, 6-3 over No. 58 Kelley Hyndman.
However, Georgia rolled to easy first set victories at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. At the No. 3 position, No. 103 Dancevic took a 6-1 set against Clark, while No. 83 Ueshima posted a 6-0 first set win over Sarah Lederhandler at No. 4. Ritz, who went 7-0 at No. 6 singles during the Ivy League season, played in the No. 5 position for the first time and took a 5-4 before Ellis rallied back to win the set, 7-5. It was an identical score at No. 6, where Elsberry took the lead against Petrelli.
Dancevic finished off Clark 6-2 in the second, and Ueshima made it 3-0 Georgia by closing out her straight-sets win over Lederhandler, 6-3. Georgia needed just one more win to clinch the match, and it came at No. 5, where Ellis built a 5-1 lead and was serving for the match. Ritz fought off four match points before succumbing, 6-1.
The other three matches were halted with Yale either leading or tied. Kim was up a break, 2-1, at No. 1, while Rhee and Kelly Hyndman were on-serve at No. 2. Petrelli and Elsberry were knotted 2-2 in the second set when the match ended.
Texas Tech 4, Harvard 2
Doubles
1. Christian Rojmar/Bojan Szumanski (Tech) vs. Ashwin Kumar/Sasha Ermakov (Harvard), 6-4
2. Milos Kustudija/Sinisa Markovic (Tech) def. Michael Hayes/Alexei Chijoff-Evans (Harvard), 8-2
3. Ilya Babinciuc/Lenoir Ramos (Tech) def. Dan Nguyen/Aba Omodele-Lucien (Harvard), 8-5
Singles
1. Bojan Szumanski (Tech) def. Ashwin Kumar (Harvard), 6-1, 6-4
2. Sinisa Markovic (Tech) def. Chris Clayton (Harvard), 7-6, 6-4
3. Lenoir Ramos (Tech) vs. Dan Nguyen (Harvard) 3-6, 6-3, 3-2
4. Ilya Babinciuc (Tech) def. Sasha Ermakov (Harvard), 6-2, 6-2
5. Alexei Chijoff-Evans (Harvard) def. Christian Rojmar (Tech), 6-2, 6-2
6. Aba Omodele-Lucien (Harvard) def. Milos Kustudija (Tech), 6-2, 7-6
Georgia 4, Yale 0
Doubles
1. Kelley Hyndman/Yvette Hyndman (Georgia) def. Janet Kim/Jessica Rhee (Yale) 8-2
2. Lindsay Clark/Lauren Ritz (Yale) vs. Naoko Ueshima/Cameron Ellis (Georgia) 7-7, not finished
3. Monika Dancevic/Adrienne Elsberry (Georgia) def. Lindsey Dashiell/Stavi Petrelli (Yale) 8-3
Singles
1. Janet Kim (Yale) vs. Yvette Hyndman (Georgia) 7-5, 2-1, not finished
2. Jessica Rhee (Yale) vs. Kelley Hyndman (Georgia) 6-3, 1-2, not finished
3. Monika Dancevic (Georgia) def. Lindsay Clark (Yale) 6-1, 6-2
4. Naoko Ueshima (Georgia) def. Sarah Lederhandler (Yale) 6-0, 6-3
5. Cameron Ellis (Georgia) def. Lauren Ritz (Yale) 7-5, 6-1
6. Adrienne Elsberry (Georgia) vs. Stevi Petrelli (Yale) 7-5, 2-2, not finished
