HMT News: Crimson Netters Beat Bulldogs for 18th Straight Series Win

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Dear HMT, It was a busy weekend for HMT. On Friday, the Crimson wrestled with the Brown Bears for a 6-1 victory at home in the Murr. It was a strong performance throughout the line-up. On Saturday, Coach Fish and Rueb travelled to the home of former All-American Mike Zimmerman '92 for a NYC-area Harvard Tennis Alumni gathering featuring 50 alums and family members spanning the generations. We had a blast catching up, swapping stories and eating some great food. Friends Chair Mark Leschly spoke about our new mentorship initiatives as well as how to better connect our alums from around the world. Former Friends Chair Alex Seaver was on hand to pass the torch to Mark and nudge our alums to continue their amazing support. Thanks for everyone for coming out - the guest list is too long to publish here but stay tuned for more alumni news and events in the near future.   On Sunday, HMT traveled for their annual rivalry match with Yale in New Haven. Against Yale, in the first outdoor match of the spring season, both teams took a while to find their range in the wind and sun. The doubles started with a decisive  6-1 win at #2 as Sebastian and Jean dropped the hammer. At #3 doubles, it was a match full of swings - down a break, up a break, down a break and finally it would go to a tie-breaker where the Bulldogs took the point with some clutch play down the stretch. But things were still looking good on #1 and #2. Kenny Tao and Brian Yeung at #1 would get up four match points on Yale's serve only to be denied by some dazzling reflex volleys. After holding serve, Yale's top team continued their hot hand to earn the doubles point for the Bulldogs.  Singles would be a different story. The Crimson gave a dominant performance at the back of the line-up with #4 Brian Yeung, #5 Andy Zhou and #6 Chris Morrow all winning in straight set fashion to put the Crimson up 3-1. Yale's top ranked player, Tyler Lu, would make it a closer match by winning at #1. Leaving it up to Kenny Tao #2 and Jean Thirouin #3 to earn one final point for the Crimson. Kenny would finish first with a 6-4, 6-2 win to clinch the match. This was the Crimson's 18th consecutive win against the Bulldogs. Not that anyone is counting. Before the match, the annual Grudge Cup doubles event was held with alums from Harvard and Yale.  The doubles level was very high in the friendly rivalry. Our current players had a chance to watch the "old-timers" in action and cheer for them before the main event.  This weekend we host #20 Columbia at 1pm on Saturday and #25 Cornell at 1pm on Sunday.  Facing these top ranked teams will be an exciting challenge and we look forward to test our skills against the front-runners. There will be plenty of loud visiting fans in the house so a strong hometown crowd cheering us on would be a huge help.  In return, we promise some dazzling tennis.  Please come out and support your team!   Happy Spring, Coaches Andrew and Dave    FULL MATCH RESULTS – Harvard 4, Yale 2   Position  Yale University  Harvard University  Winner  Score  #1 Singles  #60 Tyler Lu  Sebastian Beltrame  Yale University  6-2, 6-4  #2 Singles  Ziqi Wang  Kenny Tao  Harvard University  6-4, 6-2  #3 Singles  Dylan King  Jean Thirouin  Unfinished    #4 Singles  Stefan Doehler  Brian Yeung  Harvard University  6-4, 6-1  #5 Singles  Andrew Heller  Andy Zhou  Harvard University  6-1, 6-0  #6 Singles  Fedor Andrienko  Chris Morrow  Harvard University  6-2, 6-2  #1 Doubles  Alex Hagermoser   Fedor Andrienko  #60 Kenny Tao   Brian Yeung  Yale University  7-5  #2 Doubles  Stefan Doehler   Dylan King  Sebastian Beltrame   Jean Thirouin  Harvard University  6-1  #3 Doubles  Tyler Lu   Photos Photiades  Logan Weber   Chris Morrow  Yale University  7-6     ?

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