The men's tennis team put an end to its Ivy League losing streak over the weekend, winning a 5-2 match against Dartmouth on Friday. But after defeating the Big Green, the Bears fell 5-2 to Harvard on Sunday, leaving their Ivy record at 1-5 with one match remaining.
"We got our first win (of the Ivy League season), which was great," said co-captain Dan Hanegby '07. "It was a must-win for our dignity."
The Bears swept the doubles matches against the Big Green to take an early lead. At first doubles, the No. 55-ranked pair of Hanegby and Saurabh Kohli '08 overwhelmed David Waslen and Daniel Freeman by a score of 8-3. Co-captain Eric Thomas '07 and Chris Lee '09 soundly defeated Jeffrey Schechtman and Steve McGaughey 8-4 at second doubles, and at third doubles, Zack Pasanen '07 and Noah Gardner '09 routed Justin Tzou and Andy Kim 8-3.
Brown took the first four singles matches to solidify the victory. Hanegby had a three-set victory over Waslen at first singles, winning by a score of 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-8).
"I played pretty well, even though it was windy and (Waslen) had a big serve," Hanegby said.
At second singles, Kohli dismantled Freeman 6-3, 6-3, while at third singles, Thomas overpowered Schechtman 6-3, 6-2. Pasanen destroyed McGaughey at fourth singles, taking a 6-2, 6-0 win.
The Bears dropped the final two singles matches. Gardner lost the fifth singles match against Ari Gayer in a third-set super-breaker, recording a final score of 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4). Joe Scott '08 fell to Tzou 7-5, 6-2 at sixth singles, making the final score 5-2.
"We knew we had to win the match," Hanegby said. "It was a good effort."
Friday's match against Dartmouth was also the Bears' last home match of the season, and for the seniors, the moment was bittersweet.
"It's happy and sad," Hanegby said. "I'm happy to graduate and move on, but I'm going to miss the team and the competition. I just tried to embrace the moment."
Two days later, against the Crimson, the Bears surrendered all three of the doubles matches. At first doubles, Hanegby and Kohli dropped an 8-5 match to Sasha Ermakov and Ashwin Kumar, while at second doubles, Thomas and Lee lost 8-2 to Gideon Valkin and Michael Hayes. The third doubles match went to a tiebreaker, but Pasanen and Gardner eventually fell to Kieran Burke and Dan Nguyen 8-7 (3).
"It was disappointing," Hanegby said. "If we had won the doubles point, we could have put pressure on them, but the matches slipped out of our hands."
Brown then dropped three singles matches to give Harvard the victory. At fourth singles, Pasanen lost to Valkin 6-2, 6-1. The fifth singles match was closer, as Scott took the second set to drive the match into a third set, but he eventually fell to Ermakov by a final score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Gardner dropped a close 6-4, 6-4 match to Hayes at sixth singles, giving the Crimson the final point they needed to win.
"The guys fought hard, but they weren't consistent enough," Hanegby said of the singles losses.
The Bears took two of the three remaining matches. At third singles, Thomas devoured Kumar 6-2, 6-1, and Hanegby had a strong 6-4, 6-4 win at first singles over No. 112 Chris Clayton.
"(Clayton) is one of the top players in the league," Hanegby said. "I played one of my best matches. I was serving really well."
At second singles, Kohli gave up the first set 1-6 to Nguyen, then prevailed 7-5 in the second set to push the match to a third set, which he narrowly dropped 4-6 for a final match score of 5-2.
Last week, Brown was last in the Ivy League standings, but after the weekend's matches, the Bears' 1-5 record has moved them into 7th place, ahead of Cornell. The University of Pennsylvania and Columbia are tied for first place with six wins and one loss apiece.
Brown's final match of the season will take place tomorrow at Yale, where the Bears will have another chance to move up in the standings. But after consecutive Ivy titles the past two years, the Bears are not satisfied with anything less than first place.
"We underperformed this year," Hanegby said. "We didn't meet our goals and expectations. Our biggest weakness was not being consistent as a team."
Hanegby also noted other teams' depth this year as an obstacle. "The competition was much harder this year than it's been in past years," he said. "Every team in the league was good this year. It was tough."
Though Hanegby will graduate next month, he has faith that the Bears will soon return to the top of the Ivy League. "Next year, I believe the guys can bring back the title."
