Harvard Wins First Round at NCAA
Harvard advances past the Samford Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a convincing 4-0 win yesterday in Starkville, Mississippi. This is the second consecutive year the Crimson have won their first match at the big dance and are hoping to travel to Illinois for the Sweet 16 with a win today against #10 Miss State Bulldogs. The match begins at 2pm EST and you can follow the live scoring by clicking here.
Yesterday, the matches were moved indoors to their gymnasium with only two courts because of morning rain and a gloomy forecast. It was a scene out of "Hoosiers" with their indoor facility being converted from an old basketball fieldhouse. With limited courts, the tournament decided to play singles first. Denis Nguyen and Shaun Chaudhuri, at #1 and #2 respectively, started the Crimson out on the right foot with wins at the top two slots. Denis was all business in his straight set win, while Shaun took a set to get the train rolling before closing out the final two frames in convincing fashion 6-1, 6-2. Senior co-captain Andy Nguyen at #3 continued the momentum with a stellar performance – lacing forehands to the corners. Alex Steinroeder clinched the win at #4 with his all court game. Freshmen Nicky Hu and Nicholas Mahlangu did win their matches at the last two singles slots, though NCAA rules (play to decision) didn't allow them to count for the final score. Watch the video recap of the match at gocrimson.com by clicking here.
Today is graduation day at MSU and it should make for a boisterous crowd. Follow us on Twitter! To see the NCAA draw click here. There were some big upsets on the first day, with both traditional powerhouses Florida and Stanford being eliminated in the first round.
Follow us on Twitter (HMTOfficial) for the inside scoop as well as live updates throughout the match.
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Scott Mead Family Head Coach of Men's Tennis
Harvard University Dept of Athletics
Murr Center
65 N. Harvard St.
Boston, MA 02163
fish@fas.harvard.edu
GoCrimson Men's Tennis website
Harvard Men's Tennis blog
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