Harvard Earns 29th Men's Tennis Title in Program History

Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

CAMBRDIGE, Mass. -- With Harvard entrenched in a 3-3 tie against Dartmouth with the Ivy League title on the line, freshman Denis Nguyen won the final two sets to secure Harvard's 29th Ancient Eight championship in program history. The Crimson entered the contest needing a victory to clinch the title outright, and got just that as Jon Pearlman, Nguyen, Shaun Chaudhuri and Alex Steinroeder all tallied victories as Harvard edged Dartmouth, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the Beren Tennis Center.

Harvard struggled in doubles competition as the teams of Casey MacMaster and Alistair Felton and Christo Schultz and Pearlman both fell 9-8 at No. 1 and 2, respectively. Meanwhile Andy Nguyen and Denis Nguyen tallied Harvard's only doubles win, winning 8-1 from the No. 3 spot.

The Crimson entered singles competition down 1-0, but were buoyed by Pearlman who breezed through his match, winning 6-1, 6-0, to even the score. Chaudhuri made it 2-1 as he continued his torrid pace winning his match 6-2, 6-3. Henry Steer fell in the No. 6 spot, 5-7, 4-6, as Dartmouth knotted it back up at 2-2. The Big Green was able to get the best of Schultz from the No. 3 position as he fell 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 but Steinroeder battled back to win the final two sets of his match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, to tie the match at 3-3. The decision rested on the shoulders of Nguyen who lost his first set 5-7. Nguyen rebounded nicely however taking the second set 6-0. In the decisive third set, Nguyen battled hard and was able to notch a 6-4 advantage to lift Harvard over the Big Green, 4-3.

With the win Harvard improves to 22-2 and 6-2 in the Ivy League, which is its second best overall mark in school history. The Crimson will now wait to see who it will play in the NCAA tournament, coming up in two weeks.